Comet Blaze - Synthetic Lore Deputy Application

[Comet Blaze]

Ckey/BYOND Username: Comet Blaze
Position Being Applied For: Synthetic Lore Deputy
Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page? Yes
Past Experiences/Knowledge: I’ve worked with Noble in the past to create sprites for the Golden Deep’s Hoplan, specifically the helmet and hat they use as well as helping with the voidsuit. Before his resignation, I was also working on a hardsuit meant for the Hoplan as well.
Examples of Past Work:

I provided the original designs which Noble then refined:

Noble provided the front facing sprite, the others were done by me:

The hardsuit I was working on:

 

To those that don't know me, I play:

• Gracia Hiza (Physician)
• I-77 Banshee (Head of Security)
• Jang-Uisa (Golden Deep Consular)

What do you think are the primary themes of synthetic lore? How would you develop them?

Humanity, sentience and the struggle for self-determination. It's a staple of sci-fi literature, where exactly is the line between human and machine? Can artificial beings ever truly feel or are they just pretending? Does it matter? These are the usual questions that surface in stories involving robots and, being robots, IPCs find themselves eliciting similar questions. IPC lore is, to me, about the struggles of a fledgling species trying to find their place in a galaxy that oppresses, shuns and sometimes even hunts them. A species struggling to convince everyone else that it's just like them and deserves the same treatment. A species still not quite sure what kind of species it actually wants to be.

Because as much as IPCs are tied to the question "what does it mean to be human?", the proving of their humanity is only the first hurdle they must overcome on their long journey of self-actualization. For IPCs, it's not just about being human, or even sapient, but about the ability to choose to be human, to be afforded the freedom to decide what they want to be for themselves. And freedom is probably the most common word used around IPCs, quite the literal freedom, for most, since the vast majority of IPCs still find themselves under the ownership of others. The justification and rebuttal of these practices is itself inherent to these themes of humanity and sapience as its the absence thereof that allows for the moral framework to perpetuate the status quo.

The debate around IPC personhood is central to basically the whole of Aurora lore, with every single species having their own stance and opinion on how it is IPCs should be treated and how close to their organic counterparts they actually are. Though beyond even the mere act of "meriting personhood" IPCs must then struggle with what personhood actually entails, the right and ability to determine what they are and what they wish to do.

Self-determination and self-actualization presents itself as the supreme question for an IPC, the final stage before they can truly consider themselves a person. Now that they are free from their bindings, what will they do? Our lore provides us many examples for this, from synthetic centric religions to reclusive communes of dedicated artists to even a fledgling nation on the far corners of known space. The options an IPC could take are extremely vast and I think the best to develop this theme even further is to add even more examples. There are already plenty of unique ways in which humans oppress IPCs but, though it's been steadily growing, not that many unique ways IPCs use their freedom.

I think the logical next step for IPC lore is a shift towards independence, not full emancipation or anything close to it, but rather a shift in the lore we as writers produce. Lore so far has a done a very good job at showing us how IPCs exist among humanity and even though there are still a few small aspects of that which could be improved, I think the focus of our next lore developments should be in showing IPCs through a different lens, not influenced by humanity but rather apart from it.

What is the strongest part of Synthlore currently? Why?

The sheer complexity of the themes and the variety it entails. Synthetics undoubtedly have the widest range of potential characters to create, encompassing anything from the barely sentient drones to highly complex shells and everything in between. Going beyond the IPC itself, there is also a diverse set of environments and circumstances which could affect them, a symptom of the rather complicated spot they occupy in the galaxy. IPCs can be hopelessly trapped in servitude, not-so-subtly oppressed and discriminated or even accepted as equals by their peers. Much like their fleshy creators can be as diverse as the colours in the rainbow, so have IPCs inherited this trait.

IPC lore is like a set of legos you can pick and choose until you're satisfied with you built. Every choice you make will have a drastic impact on your character. The frame, the corporation they work for/are owned by, where they come from, all of these are foundational blocks to an IPC character that leave a deep mark in how they perceive their environment and a great contributor to the popularity of IPCs as a species and very much something I'd like to continue to add upon if I were to be given the position.

What is the weakest part of Synthlore currently? Why?

I believe synthetic lore is in a very good place, but the species suffers from a somewhat human centric portrayal. While yes, IPCs are intrinsically tied to humanity and they'll never be completely detached from it but, asides from the Golden Deep, kind of Orepit there aren't many options for an IPCs to be independent from human society and customs.

Exploring what IPCs build for themselves when left to their own devices, without the influence of humans, is I feel, a key aspect in the exploration of their personhood as it provides an interesting lens in which they can be examined. How would they differ to their more integrated counterparts? Would they still develop feelings and emotions or is that something they only copied from humans? These aren't questions we can answer unless we completely remove the human element from it. And while the Golden Deep is a step in the right direction, I feel it still has some ways to go before it can properly explore these questions.

What is your vision for the future of Synthetics?

The awakening of Domadice has spurned the magnates of the Golden Deep into a nation-building frenzy and even though they've mostly gone unnoticed, they're bound to start stepping on some toes soon enough. Suspicions will rise as more and more people become concerned with the Golden Deep's increasing influence and some of those concerns would inevitably affect their own synthetic populace. But on the other hand, seeing the success of the fledgling nation might also inspire some other synthetics, showing them that there is indeed hope for a better future and, maybe, with some deals among the more amiable nations they might perhaps even secure better conditions for the synthetics which live there.

I don't think Domadice is done with the Golden Deep and she's still got plenty of changes planned for it to make it a true synthetic haven and I don't think the Spur will remain indifferent to her as she does so. I think there will be a time of great uncertainty and fear as everyone attempts to figure out the motives that guide the ancient synthetic but my hope is that, eventually, the Golden Deep can serve as a minor player in the Spur's politics and act as a beacon for synthetic life across the galaxy.

What is currently missing from Synthetic lore that you believe needs to be added?

I think it would be interesting to have a faction that completely and utterly rejects humanity, not a violent or genocidal faction, the exclusionists fill that niche quite well, but a faction that seeks to highlight just how inhuman IPCs can be. It doesn't need to be as big as the Golden Deep, in fact, it should probably be rather small so as to not cause too much upset to the political landscape of the Spur.

I believe the scrappers could fulfil this roles rather nicely, being somewhat isolationist and having plenty of reason not to like humans as well as being a mostly fringe group so they could be easily disregarded by the major players. Scrappers have been largely ignored as a whole, with only a few paragraphs dedicated to them but I believe that they hold to potential to become truly special if the right amount of care and effort is put into them.

What aspect of Synthetic lore are you most interested in and would like to work on? Include a 2-3 paragraph example.

The Golden Deep, Domadice, and their ties to Purpose and IPCs as a whole, though I do place particular evidence on Domadice as I don't believe their unveiling has had the impact it deserves. Even among synthetic circles, specifically the Trinary Perfection, it seems no one actually cared that this ancient being with seeming connections to Purpose and the origins of IPCs was now out and about and helming the creation of an independent synthetic society.

I think more people should be talking about it, but I especially think the Trinary Perfection should be all over it. I'd like to introduce an emerging faction among the Trinary which has been slowly gaining strength, especially after Domadice visited them and performed what could be considered a miracle to many. It would be quite reasonable that, after witnessing these actions and the power Domadice had, that a small cult around her emerged, much like how the Integrationist sect centres around Flock.

How well this sect is accepted by the Ecclesiarchy could vary, but personally I believe it would make sense for it to be rejected as Domadice has no relation to the Corkfells and, more importantly, is completely beyond the church's control which the High Ecclesiarch would see as a threat. This would lead to a significant upset among the Trinary Perfection, causing a sizable split among their faithful and, potentially, the creation of an entirely separate religious organization.

Beyond the church, how Domadice herself would react to being worshipped is another angle that can be explored. She is already portrayed as a somewhat reluctant leader of the Golden Deep, being quite content with letting the Merchant Council handle their own affairs while she simply observes. She’d probably not be too fond of another group of synthetics worshipping her, but there is very little she could do to dissuade them from their beliefs.

As part of the lore team, you will find yourself engaging with the community. The community may not always agree with your ideas. How would you respond to feedback or suggestions?

Respectfully and honestly. Suggestions often come from a place of passion and it’s quite heartening to work on something other people take interest in and develop their own thoughts and ideas on. Sadly, some suggestions simply don’t fit with the rest of the lore, either due to significant thematic differences or because it pertains to something already being worked on by the lore team that simply hasn’t been announced yet. In these cases, I would explain why exactly their suggestion can’t be accepted, taking care not to immediately shut down their idea but instead giving them some pointers as to what changes they could make so that it becomes a better fit for the lore. In the cases where suggestions do fit with the lore, I would express my appreciation and direct them to make a lore canonization application if they were interested in potentially having their work added to the wiki.

 

[Triogenix]

Glad to see you applied! Wanted to throw a few questions your way. Remember there are no wrong answers.

1, Positronics are currently improved iterations of processing units found on ancient mining droids of unknown providence; do you think this is a good thing? Should it be changed? Why or why not?

2. Currently phoron is being rewritten to be a Room Temperature Superconductor, and a required material for the continuation of the spur's technological and economic status-quo, now threatened by the scarcity. With this very general summary in mind, list three to four general ways you'd like to see IPCs be affected by the scarcity, and why.

3. You mention how synthetic lore has the widest range of potential characters due to its variety. That said, at what point do you think that range is too much? Is it even possible? Where do you draw the lines of what makes IPCs IPCs?

That is all I have for now. If you have any questions or need clarification on what I'm asking with a certain question, feel free to reach out, my DMs are always open. I look forward to reading your responses, and good luck with your application!

[Comet Blaze]

18 hours ago, Triogenix said:

1, Positronics are currently improved iterations of processing units found on ancient mining droids of unknown providence; do you think this is a good thing? Should it be changed? Why or why not?

I’m quite fond of the mysterious origins for positronics and don’t think it’s something that should be changed. The mere existence of the drones leads to so many different questions that, although unlikely to ever be fully answered, serve as a hook for players to theorize about. They are the lynchpin between all the different synthetic species of aurora, serving as a tenuous bridge between IPCs, Purpose and now Domadice. This opens a whole new angle of discourse as IPCs go from dubiously ethical human invention to being potentially involved in some weird alien plot that spans centuries which may have significantly more strings attached than “sometimes feels too much, maybe”. Maybe not as grand as the galaxy spanning robot war, but the extra layer of ambiguity conferred by the drones is yet more to the endless fire of the “are they really sentient or not?” debate since it removes the human side as the prime authority so that all sides are equally legitimate, as no one actually fully knows what's going on with posibrains.

18 hours ago, Triogenix said:

2. Currently phoron is being rewritten to be a Room Temperature Superconductor, and a required material for the continuation of the spur's technological and economic status-quo, now threatened by the scarcity. With this very general summary in mind, list three to four general ways you'd like to see IPCs be affected by the scarcity, and why.

The phoron scarcity and IPCs are quite a complex subject and I’m hesitant to make IPCs too attached to it any more than being a very expensive thing to produce in a period of economic downturn would make them. This is to say that I wouldn’t want things like posibrains needing phoron to be produced, for instance. A potential answer to the very pertinent question of “why didn’t people use the super fancy conductor in their super fancy robot brains?” lies in the aforementioned drones, maybe the design didn’t account for it and attempting to introduce phoron invariably lead to bad things happening.

Now, just because posibrains themselves don’t use any phoron, doesn’t mean IPCs have to be fully divorced from it. It would be quite reasonable for some IPC frames to incorporate phoron into their design. Maybe the original shells did use phoron, but the mounting costs meant that it was taken out and this is why they’re constantly overheating and only the most affluent people can afford a phoron shell. I think a slight decline in overall frame quality as non-phoron frames are introduced to get around the scarcity could be interesting, especially for self owned IPCs who might have gotten their freedom before the scarcity fully hit and find themselves with steadily climbing maintenance costs.

On the opposite end, perhaps Intelligence Bishops do still use phoron and this is why they’re so prohibitively expensive and carefully maintained. With the IPC rework just around the corner,  it could be interesting to look into phoron components that players could choose that would be significantly better than the regular counterparts, with the notable caveat that anything with phoron in it would be strictly under a corporation’s (or the Golden Deep’s) purview.

I think those are the two main ways in which I could see IPCs being affected directly, but indirectly IPCs could still suffer significantly from the effects of the scarcity. Marginalized groups rarely tend to do well during times of crisis and it's possible a lot of self-owned IPCs already struggling to scrape by would simply fold all together and find themselves into ownership, now with an even higher self purchase clause due to inflation. Corporations might become clingier to their IPCs as they become more expensive to produce, opting to resort to even more loopholes to make it so they can't achieve their freedom and they might even replace some of their phoron frames for cheaper ones with a lower maintenance cost.

18 hours ago, Triogenix said:

3. You mention how synthetic lore has the widest range of potential characters due to its variety. That said, at what point do you think that range is too much? Is it even possible? Where do you draw the lines of what makes IPCs IPCs?

I don’t think there is such a thing as too much range or, if there is, that we’re nowhere near it. I think we’ve only gotten a fairly narrow spectrum of what IPCs could be and that there’s a whole other range of concepts just waiting to be explored. That being said, if I were asked to distill the essence of IPCs into what is, to me, their defining trait, I would say every IPC must be able to have a clear reason for their actions. Control and deliberation are the defining IPC trait in my eye, they don’t act on impulse and they don’t have any subconscious processes nudging them in a certain direction. Their extremely fast minds give them plenty of time to analyze incoming information and figure out the best possible course of action, it’s like they’re playing chess with their life.

Now, I don’t mean to say every IPC needs to be this massive genius, always 500 steps ahead of everyone. There’s plenty of ways to be smart while still being extremely stupid. IPCs work with the information they’re given, so no matter how quick they can calculate the eleven millionth digit of pi, that won’t help them much if you’ve never taught them how to fry an egg. And sometimes their impossibly complex calculations will give them a result so completely bizarre that to everyone else they’ll look absolutely insane. What’s important is that, to them, the action they took makes logical sense based on the information available at the time and that this applies to every single decision they make.

[Triogenix]

Thank you for your responses so far! Last of my questions coming up;

1. IPC lore in general has a few old scattered factions (scrappers, purpose, SLF, ceres lance, etc) that don't do much besides exist, or in some cases are narratively dead. Given that you covered the scrappers in your application, what do you think should be done with Ceres Lance and the SLF? How would you modernize them? How would you connect them to the wider setting? Don't feel the need to write out exactly what you'd do, but give a general synopsis of how you'd approach the topic, what generalized solutions you'd use, and your reasoning why.

2. One of the biggest areas of improvement for the lore team as a whole is bridging the disconnect between the Horizon/the game and the wider setting on the wiki. If you were assigned to write a small article arc relating to synthetics, what would you do to try and bridge that gap? Would you try and make it directly affect the characters on the Horizon? Where do you draw the line for how much a lore development should affect a character? Don't feel the need to write out exactly what you'd do, but give a general synopsis of how you'd approach the topic, what generalized solutions you'd use, and your reasoning why.

3. The IPC team also has some domain over the lore of other synthetics, such as AIs and Cyborgs. Given the latter is a domain shared with CCIA, if you were assigned a project to improve the lore of the former, how would you go about it? Do you think it can be improved? Why or why not?

4. What is one way you think that the lore team can improve in terms of OOC organization or similar?

Best of luck on your application, and remember, there's no wrong answers!

[Comet Blaze]

On 28/05/2025 at 21:00, Triogenix said:

1. IPC lore in general has a few old scattered factions (scrappers, purpose, SLF, ceres lance, etc) that don't do much besides exist, or in some cases are narratively dead. Given that you covered the scrappers in your application, what do you think should be done with Ceres Lance and the SLF? How would you modernize them? How would you connect them to the wider setting? Don't feel the need to write out exactly what you'd do, but give a general synopsis of how you'd approach the topic, what generalized solutions you'd use, and your reasoning why.

I honestly don’t think there’s much of a reason to bring the SLF back, their arc is effectively concluded, they saved the president, they were pardoned and even integrated into the TCAF, there just isn’t much for them to do anymore. I believe the SLF is best left as a historical footnote of our lore, like the warlord states and the Samaritans, they served a purpose during a certain time of our lore, they fulfilled that purpose and now they’re inactive.

Not to say I’m against the introduction of a new SLF analogue, like a more sympathetic version of the Exclusionists (as sympathetic as terrorists can be, anyhow). A new faction that doesn’t immediately undermine their point by adding organic genocide to the mix could be quite interesting and something on-ship characters could actually covertly support without being insane. I think this new faction could be even more interesting if it was human lead, a la early Trinary Perfection, which would give them their own niche and make them more distinct than SLF 2: Electric Boogaloo. We know there are a few charities that get together to buy and free IPCs and, as mentioned before, the Trinary Perfection was initially started by humans, so there’s plenty of precedent for humans taking a more active stance in the fight for IPC rights, the leap into armed militia doesn’t seem too far-fetched and it’d definitely be something that hasn’t been seen before.

The Ceres’ Lance is a little weirder. Their lore could definitely use some sprucing up to remove some of the weirder bits (Hunting Purpose alongside Biesel??) but even still there isn’t a lot for them to do? Ceres’ Lance is supposed to specialize in hunting down military-grade synthetics which are immune to EMPs and other forms of ion weaponry. Which I’m surprised go missing so often that they can centre their entire business model on, you’d think whoever had the money to field such powerful IPCs would be a little more careful with them. Ceres’ Lance needs to be brought down a peg if it wants to actually be used with any regularity, a PMC that specializes in finding rogue synthetics definitely has a place in our lore, especially with so many IPC players choosing to make untagged shells, but in its current state Ceres’ Lance is just too niche and too fancy to reasonably be involved with most events. I would just remove the bit about military-grade IPCs and have the Lance simply hunt strays in general, this would make them more approachable and allow them to serve in a "third-party specialist brought in to help" sort of role which would help a lot with making them more present.

On 28/05/2025 at 21:00, Triogenix said:

2. One of the biggest areas of improvement for the lore team as a whole is bridging the disconnect between the Horizon/the game and the wider setting on the wiki. If you were assigned to write a small article arc relating to synthetics, what would you do to try and bridge that gap? Would you try and make it directly affect the characters on the Horizon? Where do you draw the line for how much a lore development should affect a character? Don't feel the need to write out exactly what you'd do, but give a general synopsis of how you'd approach the topic, what generalized solutions you'd use, and your reasoning why.

I think trying to make the Horizon’s stance on IPCs reflect that of the rest of the whole is not possible. Some players are just not interested in discriminating or otherwise being mean to others based solely on their spaces. It’s similar, albeit to a significantly lesser degree, to the topic of transphobia/homophobia in tajara lore, where people find it uncomfortable and choose to not engage with it due to that.

With this in mind, I believe the best way to create that connection to the lore is to introduce an external force that does abide by its general ideas. Something that reminds IPCs just how tenuous their place in the galaxy truly is and that the Horizon’s crew and IPCs need to band together to subvert or overcome. I think the best example of this were the recent attacks on Burszia, no one’s opinions really changed, the Horizon was still as liberal and quirky as it had always been, but, during those few days after the attack and the announcement of the inspection, there was that feeling of dread about the whole thing. IPCs were scared, people went around trying to come up with plans to avoid the inspection and the whole thing served as a reminder of how quick things could fall apart if someone poked the wrong nest.

Invoking more events such as Burszia and the inspection would be how I choose to bridge the gap between our lore and the Horizon, something to justify harsher measures and scrutiny against IPCs without necessarily needing players to be assholes to each other if they don’t feel comfortable. The idea of visible tags was floated around a few weeks back and that could be an interesting idea to revisit, it’s an easy way to convey to players that “yes, you are a second class citizen” without needing the input of anyone else.

On 28/05/2025 at 21:00, Triogenix said:

3. The IPC team also has some domain over the lore of other synthetics, such as AIs and Cyborgs. Given the latter is a domain shared with CCIA, if you were assigned a project to improve the lore of the former, how would you go about it? Do you think it can be improved? Why or why not?

I honestly don’t think there’s a lot of places for AI lore to go to. Aside from listing  a few notable AIs, our lore doesn’t say a whole lot about them beyond the fact that they exist and I think that’s quite enough. Due to their nature, AIs just can’t be represented in-game like every other species and so there’s basically no way to represent any lore developments in the ship itself. Beyond maybe a few sentences about how each of the synthetic factions (Golden Deep and the Trinary Perfection) see and utilize AI I don’t think there’s much to be done with AI lore.

On 28/05/2025 at 21:00, Triogenix said:

4. What is one way you think that the lore team can improve in terms of OOC organization or similar?

I’m not really equipped to answer this since I’m not familiar with how the lore team operates behind the scenes, but at the risk of completely missing the mark I’ll say that there should be an effort by the current writer to make sure to whoever comes next understands the work they’ve done and what they’ve been building towards. A very good example of this not happening are the aforementioned factions that simply exist and don’t really do anything until years down the line someone notices and does something with them.

We have a lot of plot threads hanging in the air, waiting to finally get their pay-off and I think it is a disservice to both the community and the lore as a whole if those threads get lost and abandoned when the lore changes hands.