[Accepted] [Vaurca] Cupa wants to do the bug shaker

[Cupa]

User Information

BYOND Ckey: Cupax3

Discord username: cupa

Character names: Jun Wang, Yoichi Chuwon, Yoshi Haruno (before taking a break)

Species you are applying to play: Vaurca

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General Whitelist Requirements

What colour do you plan on making your first alien character?:
Light blue (RGB 0, 35, 115)
"Dark Gunmetal" (RGB 25, 25, 50)

Have you read the lore pages for the species you wish to be whitelisted for?:
To the best of my ability!

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?:
Bug people are cool!
Vaurca have been a fascinating species to encounter while playing Aurora and I found myself looking to play one after learning about them;
I exclusively play Phalanx humans which may give a clue to that already.
They do not feel too alien to be an entirely different form of consciousness while also being unique in enough ways to be quite enticing.
Particularly I think it's very cool how they have taken after the common communal image of ants and other social insects and I think I would enjoy exploring that through my characters and time on Aurora.

What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?:
I think that question is too broad given the castes of vaurca to be answered concisely.
Disregarding the castes, the emotion vaurcae display is more focused on their antenna and mandibles (where applicable); They use sounds and motion produced from those to convey feelings rather than emit vocal noises.
The dynamic between the hives could mean a lot of minutia between characters of different hives or even more specialized broods.
Outside the hivenet they also distinguish themselves via slight changes to sentence structure and word pronunciation compared to humans.
For my application characters, a bulwark would for one be very defensive and apprehensive of just jumping into action. From what I have seen while playing, Bulwarks tend to have more passive speech and would also likely have at least a bit of trouble with delicate operations outside of areas they have trained in.
An attendant would instead be a bit closer to a human in terms of speech, though differentiating itself from the lack of mandibles. Instead they can utilise their gaster to display certain emotions instead.
Hivenet, on the other hand, allows vaurca to transmit sensations and feelings they encounter or, more rarely, creatively invent as well as allowing instantaneous word-based communication between them.
It creates another social dimension for role-play to occur, with the main difference to speech being the addition on giving projections of what one is experiencing.

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Character Applications

Character Name: Ra'Akaix'Riva C'thur

Write a backstory for your character. This may include their origin, education, personality and how they arrived to the SCCV Horizon.
Ra'Akaix'Riva C'thur is a bulwark of Queen Vytel, having been created and hatched in 2464 as part of an effort to explore a more scientific approach to warfare, in this case the fabrication of weaponry to augment the Just Queen's efforts of peacekeeping. This endeavour meant, for Riva in particular, that they were made to explore the application of chemical sciences, particularly the industrial scale manufacturing of reagents such as strong volatile compounds to disperse crowds with excessive scents or more "crude" chemical agents/weaponry. They spent roughly 5 years in subjective virtual reality training and learning these ways and, after 1 year objective time, moving into the general employ of the hive and, by proxy, the Nralakk Federation.
Having spent countless hours in virt learning and experiencing what can amount to smell-based torture, Riva had become a bit jaded, being proud their work is able to help the Just Queen, though dejected to the fact that it is through means of harm. With colleagues and friends Riva attempts to experience more pleasurable sensations to make up for the time spent fulfilling their duties, and is a generally kind and helpful individual, having a (all things considered) respectable SCI of 4.81 during these years of their life.
A welcome reprieve was it, then, when through the increased cooperation between Queen Vytel and human megacorporations another application of Rivas knowledge in chemical fabrication was found in late 2466; Being subcontracted to Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals, Riva has been given the opportunity to apply skills used to bottle harm to instead help those in need and, once their tenure with Zeng-Hu ends, grant those same benefits back to the warriors of the Just Queens brood through their work.
This had the unintentional side-effect of making most medicine appear as pleasant smells to Riva, as the association between them and helping others has slowly but surely imprinted itself.

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.
Due to the only recent development of bulwarks and their lack of presence outside the hives bar some special hotspot locations, the most Riva would be exposed to is the political machinations of High Queen C'thur and Queen Vytel as they navigate the troubles of, for one, being a high-value partner to both Zeng-Hu and Einstein with both looking to make the relationship exclusive only and, for the other, Vytels efforts to diversify herself and her brood from the dominance the Nralakk Federation has on her, seeking out beneficial relations for hive C'thur, such as in the case with Riva and being sent out to work for a human megacorporation instead of a Skrellian one, though still being employed to the corp the Federation has the best relationship with. The Phoron Scarcity has only recently taken any effect for Riva, primarily being the lack of phoron for work in synthesizing more advanced medicines, k'ois harvesting and the careful guidance from the brood's more analytical individuals having allowed this to largely be weathered while still with the hive.

How does your character view the megacorporation they work for?
Riva is both grateful to Zeng-Hu for allowing this new branch of their life to begin while also distantly being exposed to the wariness inherent to C'thurs relation with Zeng-Hu. Much of their rare "political" thoughts are instead devoted to the paradoxical position they find themself with the Nralakk Federation, as their previous employ-by-proxy to the military arm of the Federation is a source of great discontent, yet it is only by the Federations support that Hive C'thur or Queen Vytel are currently prospering. This greatly perplexes Riva, and they find themself often switching between a positive and negative outlook as new arguments enter their train of thought.

A second character because I want to play both immediately and feedback would be cool :3

Character Name: Za'Akaix'Coda C'thur

Write a backstory for your character. This may include their origin, education, personality and how they arrived to the SCCV Horizon.
Za'Akaix'Coda C'thur is a warrior-attendant of the brood of High Queen C'thur. Coda was hatched in 2459 to serve in what can best be described as the role of a human butler to a Ta in need and station worthy of such a specialised subordinate. He spent most of his first four years in virt, learning a wide variety of fields such as bodyguard duties, a sufficient education in the political situation and maneuvering between the notable galactic players with Hive C'thur and the Nralakk Federation and roughly half of it to acquire any skills necessary to fulfill the whims of a Ta. Preparation of food, courses on the biology of a Ta (to make sure his assigned principal was comfortable at all times), record keeping and the basic principles of negotiation.
After his training in virt was concluded in 2464, Coda was not immediately assigned to a Ta, instead being assigned in a similar capacity to a C'thurian idol on Diuslszi.
This gave Coda some much-needed real experience in the ways of socialisation, forming what was a rough gem of polite yet disparaging self into a gracious "adult" with a lesson of humility learned.
During these lessons learned, Coda developed into a fine individual, learning many lessons from his assigned charge and gaining a more calm outlook on most situations.
With a good standing with the Federation and a SCI at a very respectable 6.02, life was good on Diuslszi when it got, in a way, even better.
Starting in mid-2466, Coda would be re-assigned to the SCCV Horizon to serve as a proper adjutant to Ta'Akaix'Loxs'tor'nok, who had requested a specifically Vaurcaean aide not too long ago.

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.
(I don't think much could really be written here for this particular character apart from just listing updates between the sides over the arcs as "hey Coda learned an update to his diplomatic training" which feels really disingenuous so I'll just hope the answer for the other character is sufficient-ish)

How does your character view the megacorporation they work for?
Coda views the Federation rather favourably. He had a good life on Diuslszi and their consular mission made it possible for him to fulfil his primary function of serving a Ta. As for his Ta, he only relatively recently entered her full employ, what with travel times all the way from Diuslszi to the SCCV Horizon. As a confidant, it is his place to learn and share the views of his Ta, even if that may, in private, disagree with Federation doctrine or his own opinion. But that is no matter. He was created for this, he knows, and it will be his duty until his life shall end.
Quietly, as he arrives on the Horizon, he has a little celebration. His real life starts now.

Edited February 9 by Desven

[Sniblet]

No affiliation with the lore team, just dropping an observation as a regular bug guy.

It’s not impossible, but uncommon for a vaurca to be forced into a role that they resent, like Ra Riva. The Queens know what their castes are capable of and comfortable with, and unhappy workers are less than ideal - a bulwark made for chemical weapons would often, at the least, be grown with an exception to their nonviolent nature imprinted in their neurochemistry. Look at Vedhra’s page; are all of those workers secretly miserable?

Unbound vaurcae, free-willed though they are, are purpose-built the same as viax; they’re grown specifically to fill the first position they’re put into. They often diverge later in small ways, but are born for what they’re expected to do.

There would likely be a reason for this mismatch, as opposed to it just happening. Maybe it was a test; maybe the cell’s needs changed unexpectedly and a temporary concession fell on Riva’s big silly shoulders.

Edited February 4 by Sniblet

[Myphicbowser]

During my time witnessing Cupax RP and play they've played a few different Phalanx members. They understand the Vaurca alien mindset, and have an appreciation of the lore that I think is important for a Vaurca player to have. I really appreciate RPing with them as my Ta, and I take the time to see how they react as a member of the Phalanx, and I think it works out great. I think they'd be an excellent Bug, and we can fully trust them with *chitter and maybe even *clack

[Desven]

I think this is fine because it's worded as if Riva is just jaded at its work. Vaurcae can have an opinion on their job, but it's not like modern-day humans. Think about it more like people two centuries ago—if you pressed them about it, they probably didn't like what profession they were born in, but they saw it just as a fact of life. That's pretty much how Vaurcae think of their work. They don't have to love it, some probably do, but they won't complain because it's just what life is and what they're meant to do.

 

This application is accepted.