Opossum goes full Dorohedoro - Unathi Lore Deputy App

[Hawk]

Ckey/BYOND Username: Hawkington 
(KodiakOpossum on Discord)

Position Being Applied For (Wiki Maintainer, Lore Developer, Deputy Lore developer): Deputy Unathi Loredev

Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page?: Ayup

Past Experiences/Knowledge: I study English at a Russell group university, and I've wrote a number of journal articles already for both student newspapers and in-house political party reviews.

Examples of Past Work: CatisnHD and Gecko can both account for my constant harassing of them. I also helped Dekser a lot whenever they were writing the Unathi Afflictions and Disabilities section of the wiki page.

Include answers to the following questions in your app as well:

1. What other skills do you have that can assist the team? (I.e. Coding, Spriting, Mapping, etc.)

I've sprited a few custom items back in my day.

2. What is one section of Unathi lore that you want to expand, and what would you do to expand it?

Unathi-Hept Relations

Hephaestus, essentially bought the whole planet of Moghes. But it's funny how little you hear about this in the everyday type of round but I think it's because players are drawn to conflict, people play Aut'akh because it sets them apart from the more traditionally minded types of Sinta, the same goes for Dominian Unathi. I'd also argue it's why certain types of humans such as Martians or Dominian nobility are played so much.

I really enjoyed this arc. It painted Hept in a bit of a darker light than what you usually see beyond mentions of the Burzian method. And I think players would be really drawn to it if we started some form of further arc, or at least gave a wiki page or two on Unathi rebellion to this. Maybe with a few events to get players really invested.

So much of the Unathi lore, from the Contact War, to Ourera has been essentially, conflict towards the Hegemony from other forces. The way I would want to write this is that instead, this is more of an "every-sinta" vs a corporation type angle. It would allow players to play whatever type of Sinta they wanted, from an impoverished traditionalist who hates this "Human" corporation treading upon their guild system. Or a noble, working from inside, leaking crucial bits of information. I would hope, this would draw people back to Moghes as a planet, because it's changed so much from when I've started, with so many new accents and pieces of clothing that I'd really be excited to see people using.

3. What is one section of Unathi lore that you want to remove or rework, and how would you go about it?

Out of all these questions, this is the one I struggled with the most, cause I do love these little freakshow lizards. The main thing that sort of always bothered me is that their religions are strangely homogeneous. Like every Si'kahist, who are usually poor, superstitious and undereducated. Follow the exact same strand of Si'kahism? On a planet with a lot of isolated communities that at times can be extremely disconnected and hostile to one another? That just seems a little unrealistic to me and could be improved to allow for a wider range of player expression.

I'd be interested in creating "Schools of Thought" for a handful of the religions shaped by their histories and environments, Aut'akh, for example, already have examples such as the Razortails which eschew the pacifistic tendencies of the religion. And I'd also be interested in creating some form of heresies that could be used for some positively spooky odyssey rounds.

4. What do you think is missing from Unathi lore?

Lizard booze. I know the whole system may or may not be going a total overhaul right now. So this may be the best time to suggest this. 

Whenever Sarezhi was removed from the booze-o-mat. I realized how absolutely limited Sinta drinks choices are. There's essentially only one "Spirit" (Sarezhi) while even Dominia has a couple, such as Geneboosted Wine and Tarasun and Tajara honestly just have their whole own bar. As a result, a lot of the Unathi players I see end up just drinking human booze, and creating IC explanations such as Aut'akh liver processing augments. I'm not against this idea, but I think it'd be worthwhile creating a few new bottles, and a few new cocktails to give these players more of a choice, expressing themselves through their choice in butanol.

Two ideas I had is either creating Unathi unique spirits, maybe some form of fermented sap. Maybe it's traditional to have certain parts of animals literally trapped within the bottles, what do pirates drink? What do Aut'akh drink? Furthermore these new cocktails could be mixed with alcohol like the xuizi pulque and could be used to expand the lore of how Unathi live abroad.

5. What aspect of Unathi lore interests you the most? What would you like to work on the most?

Essentially, character hooks and gimmicks themselves. I remember when I first started. Unathi were so interesting to me that my IPCs and Humans basically just followed them around and talked to them the whole round. I want to create that experience for new players. But as a result. I think Unathi players should offer a unique form of interaction and RP. They shouldn't just be humans with scales and a funny hiss. A line that sticks out to me is how Unathi "Smiling" doesn't look right. And how loaded with connotations this is. It can be used for a funny one off joke. It can be used for the character attempting to look approachable. Or the opposite, downright threatening. It can show a wish to be more socialized by humanity. But there's always a gap, it doesn't look quite right. I think little details like this are what make the species such a standout.

6. Propose a new group or faction of Unathi. Write 2-3 paragraphs about them.

Kra'Sarkaz - Grey Healers

While nearly every village has a healer. Most of them lack access to the most modern forms of equipment and knowledge. Which is reserved for the nobility with selective and restrictive recruiting processes. Not every Sinta has the opportunity to become a prestigious healer from the Skalamar University of Medicine. Despite the fact that the need for healers, particularly after the Contact War and 2465 recession is near enough omnipresent.

Those who are unable to afford a more exclusive physician may find themselves seeking out the rumours of the Grey Healers. An illusive band of medical dropouts, doctors sickened by their inability to help those worst off, apprentices, faith healers, anti-Hephaestus surgeons and otherwise medically inclined rabble. Humans find themselves drawing parallels to their own plague doctors. As these healers covered themselves in thick strips of cloth to ward off the diseases they combat. And utilize hoods and masks to maintain anonymity in areas where the official medical guild would rather have them removed.

The Grey Healers have been a fixture of Unathi Medicine almost since the original founding of the House of Medicine back in the 1600s, where the firebrand physician “Rebik Ziikaz” famously stormed out of the guild hall over disagreements in patient treatment and the guild’s attitude towards those less fortunate. As a result, in every city there is supposedly a “Grey Lodge” in derelict areas, equal parts hospital, rehabilitation center and shadowy secret society. 

Additional Comments:

[Insert Witty Additional Comment]

[CatsinHD]

Opossum has been someone I've talked to for years now. During that entire time, there has been a torrent of ideas, characters, lore, thoughts, opinions, and everything else about the server, its lore, and how people interact with it. Unathi especially are a species that Opossum has much interest in, and it has been apparent for a while. He's a great writer, whether he likes to admit it or not. A big +1 from me.

[Lent23]

Hi! First off, thank you for applying for the deputy position!

I've got a few additional questions for you:

1. As far as your "other skills" section goes, you mention spriting. Do you consider yourself any good? Do you have any examples of your spritework? Have you PR'd things in the past?

2. I'm intrigued by your interest in Hepht-Hegemony relations. In what direction would you like that relationship to go? What do you want out of either side?

3. If you could work with any of the other lore teams on a cooperative project, which team would you pick, and what would you propose?

Overall, I really like your application, you guys are NOT making it an easy choice!

[Hawk]

Well. I'd like to say that it's one helluva compliment to hear that my application is good. So plenty of thanks for that. Kind of makes me feel like river dancing.

1. While it may just be my own self-efficacy talking I wouldn't immediately describe myself as anything beyond an amateur who really enjoys the process. But I'd be willing to knuckle down and really work on it as a skill, particularly with my idea of adding a lot more Unathi booze. Mainly I've worked on custom items. Catsin once approached me to help create an investigator specific notebook item. But I believe while we were working on that, the item just became available to everyone in the loadout anyways.

Some Examples:

 

2. The first thing. Is that I would want it to be a relatively grey conflict. Neither side should be obviously in the right or wrong and I would like for there to be an argument made for both sides. That way players can freely create characters on either side of the conflict. And we don't end up with ninety rebels, and one Unathi Hept Liason.

The way I imagine it is that Moghes, while starting to recover was still a heavily ravaged planet. Hept investing so much time and finances into it is going to result in benefits for the population, particularly the peasantry but those benefits are going to be heavily localized to population centers. There's going to be a drain placed on towns and villages as a result. This isn't even getting into the power Hept now wields politically with the guilds. And it's opportunity for propaganda, as it teaches the next generation of Unathi through apprenticeships. I want it to be emphasized that Hept is ultimately a megacorporation at the end of the day. And they're not helping the planet solely out of charity.

On the other hand. Those rebelling can have a number of reasons why. From simple xenophobia against a human corporation. To more logical ideas, such as the fear that this will reduce Unathi to a worker race for a single corporation, which will further affect their political standing with other nations. That Unathi cultural values will be replaced by those of the corporation. Furthermore I'd be open to Hept's unsavoury past of over-industrialization, their expectation of workers to "Backstab" up their ranks, and the low amount of Unathi at the upper echelons of Hept decision making causing fear that there may be a "Glass Ceiling". But I also want the rebels to be prone to the occasional poor decision making, infighting, and preexisting divisions.

To finish off, the last thing I'd want for this idea, is for both sides, Hept, and Rebellion, to have Unathi from all social strata working for them. I want nobles, and peasants, "fighting" other nobles and peasants. I think it'd be really interesting to see a conflict, not based on traditional Unathi norms, such as Hegemony vs Traditionalist. And expand on how Unathi are adapting to the galactic stage. For better or for worse. 

3. Vaurca
 

Quote

"Most of Vedhra’s offers to “perfect” the Unathi’s biology has been rejected by the Hegemony."

I'm not gonna pretend I'm some kind of expert on Vaurca lore, but it seems the K'lax hive is very well attuned to the Hegemony, even the more rabblerousing elements such as Vetju. I think it could be a very interesting development if, in seeking to analyze and expand upon their unique augments. Vedhra sought out at Aut'akh. Something like this already exists in lore where it's noted that exiled C'thur roboticists work with Eridani Aut'akh. But I think a K'lax Queen engaging with Unathi counterculture (I'm open to the idea that Vedhra does this through deniable assets, or simply does it boldfacedly) could cause some very interesting questions to be raised about their place within the Hegemony. Whenever it comes to preexisting Vaurca concerns, such as preparation against the Lii'dra.