Naut's IPC Application

[naut]

BYOND Ckey: Nauticall

Discord username: @nauticall 

Character names:

Leslie Asoya
Alessia Marino
Seoyeon Park

Species you are applying to play: IPC

 

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General Whitelist Requirements 

What colour do you plan on making your first alien character?: N/A

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

 

Why do you wish to play this species?: 

I’ve loved playing as robots in other games and media; they have interesting perspectives from a philosophical perspective especially that differ from humans, and there’s a lot of opportunities to play out different dynamics, stories and beats including personhood, “realness”, and life’s purpose. It’s also always engaging to try engaging in the mindset of a robot, thinking rationally (or irrationally in some cases) to things and how to go about it. 

What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: 

The most obvious difference between an IPC and a human is that an IPC is not human, no matter how much one might try to emulate the latter. The way they process risk, make calculations, see the world and even form relationships is done in a completely foreign way to humans owing to the different workings of their brain. Everything is either logical or random, with no hormones, overwhelming emotions or gut feelings to influence their judgment. However, a lot of their drives, often eccentric, hinge on their directive for self-preservation, influencing both their risk tolerance as well as their outlook on life later on.

IPCs also benefit from learning through datapacks and preprogramming instead of the traditional education/training gauntlets organics often have to go through before being able to work; this lets them often enter work fields immediately after creation and continue doing so for as long as they’re allowed or capable.

Their status as an indentured second-class people also makes their ambitions and goals significantly different from that of a human; as upward mobility can often be hard-limited to factors outside of one’s own control, “goals” may be a lot more simple in concept but more elaborate in execution; like working towards paying off one’s freedom, discovering enlightenment, escaping something, or simply making it to next year - because of their situations these often need a lot of careful planning and elaborate steps to avoid getting caught or being set back.

 

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Character Application

 

Character Name: Pascal

 

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

Background

On the Grand Boardwalk lining the coast of Helios City’s resort corridor on Silversun lay the Alaena Bar, six stories above the ground, and far away from any kind of hustle and bustle. Its door was made of wood, its signage nothing more than a simple board denoting its name and its location, and its outdoor menu crafted of chalk. Its entrance is overshadowed and dwarfed by its massive, bright neighbors, and this was very much by design.

One would expect a bar in this prestigious of a location to be filled with cosmopolitan grandeur: glass chandeliers and RGB lighting fueling lively drinking contests and constant chatter. Instead, Alaena offers a different allure. Its modest size and unpretentious, contemporary decor belie its status as a haven for the truly elite, a sanctuary quietly marketed by Idris to those of status seeking a haven away from the perpetual whirlwind of the casinos and attractions lining the levels below; a passion project by the company’s more reserved officials and clients. Marketed by mouth as a "getaway from the chaos," it stands apart from the dive bars and cheap clubs peppering the coastline, attracting a clientele with discerning tastes and deep pockets. Its patrons were true aristocrats, often older, and with a longing to be treated like a person for once in their lives, rather than the walking wallets their colleagues often made them out to be. Alaena offered them such a chance.

Behind the counter of Alaena stood a bartender named Pascal, a first generation Bishop frame IPC in white and gold, dressed in a three-piece suit, sporting a gold name tag symbolizing exemplary service. For the past three decades Pascal had engaged in many deep conversations that often propagated the bar, often diving into philosophy and life ambitions. On some days Pascal would assure a disillusioned politician, or challenge the worldview of a corporate executive. Unlike its contemporaries, Pascal did not bend the knee submissively to elite patrons, lending it initial ire from the higher-ups but eventually warming up to its down-to-earth treatment of customers. 

Pascal was always one for honesty. It would tell its opinions - of which it had many - and said them frankly, but did so in a respectful and humble manner. Whether it was advice, political debate, philosophy, literature, or science, no matter how complicated, Pascal had a way to join the conversation if invited and contribute. This made it a valuable advisor among the bar’s clients, one motivated by its job and not by the premises of wealth or reward.

 

Pascal was one of the first synthetics to be deployed to Silversun. Initially assigned to a more prominent bar in Helios, a young and inexperienced Pascal and its three other Bishop frame coworkers faced rampant discrimination by both clients and even coworkers, driven by distrust and the fear that a robot was stealing their job. At one point it was even attacked by a drunk native patron at the bar, and another it was attacked and beaten in an alleyway while running errands. While Pascal recovered, it still holds memories of these incidents and, while it has taken more caution to draw less attention to itself, they’ve given it a sense of almost self-doubt and questioning that festers in the back of its mind, resurfacing occasionally during deep debates.

In an effort to win over patrons while not attempting to show off and attract even more ire, Pascal would adopt a degree of formality and closeness with patrons, particularly regulars, to a degree that none of the other bartenders had quite matched yet. While it certainly was attractive, it wasn’t exactly awe-inspiring, and Pascal continued to mostly blend in as one of the robots behind the counter.

After its talents were noticed by a touring Idris executive, Pascal’s abilities were made known to the company’s management on Silversun and, by personal request, it was quietly transferred over to the then-brand new Alaena Bar.

 

Years passed, and while neither Pascal nor Alaena made it to worldwide renown, it became a quiet household name among its clientele. One day, however, Idris decided that Pascal was becoming too old to continue staffing Alaena, alongside geopolitical concerns, and decided to quietly move it away from the bar, much to the dismay of the bar’s remaining customers.

Pascal eventually was reassigned to the SCCV Horizon, continuing to do its job in a quiet corner of a high-profile ship. There it continues serving the same combination it had done for decades: a cocktail, comfort, and a conversation.

Personality

“I do not like pretending to be something I am not.”

Over the course of its over thirty years of existence, Pascal has developed a plethora of opinions and life experience, information accrued from its training and its decades of talking to all sorts of customers from behind the counter. 

Decades of working at Alaena has given Pascal a formal vocabulary that extends into its speech, even when off duty. It speaks in sophisticated yet nuanced language that is direct, but not robotic; formal, but not coldly so.

Pascal additionally has conversational skills so adept and well-developed that it is only betrayed by its appearance as a robot, albeit one with a highly polished and clean chassis. This aspect of itself makes no attempt to hide, and although a younger Pascal may have tousled on occasion with the nature of its existence, it has since learned to accept its position and status as a mechanical being, and even embraces it, having a personal dislike for the pretend-rich nature of others. Self-ownership in particular is one aspect Pascal, almost uniquely among older IPCs, does not view as a positive thing, thinking of it as trading one series of problems for another.

Pascal’s advanced age means it struggles to adapt to new trends, favoring “old fashioned” methods and ideologies that give others the perception that it can be out of touch. Despite this, it is continually reading to attempt to improve itself and research the ever-changing trends of today, although it reminisces about simpler times and misses when quality was favored over looks or flashiness.

It also struggles with the idea of a looming “retirement” and, following its reassignment to a ship, is currently actively attempting to find other hobbies, of which include classics like painting, reading, and playing instruments, of which it is competent in several. 

 

How have 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.  

Throughout most of its life, Pascal was only lightly affected by geopolitical events, being largely insulated by Idris Incorporated’s business-as-usual approach on Silversun. However, the Solarian Collapse led to Idris shuffling around personnel significantly and huddling operations together in the wake of the crumbling infrastructure around them. Alaena would see fewer and fewer patrons in the wake of the event as elite patrons were less willing to pay a visit to the planet than before. 2466 saw a critical break in this threshold as Alaena lost more and more customers. Idris sought to replace Alaena's staff with a younger crew as a result, with Pascal itself being moved away from operations for a while. With too much goodwill to be simply retired on the spot, Pascal was relegated to the Horizon to both put employees to work and placate frustrated corporate officials who used to frequent Alaena.

 

How does your character view the megacorporation they work for?

Pascal is loyal to Idris Incorporated, even though it accrued enough wisdom to know that the corporation likely no longer returns the same sentiment to it. Pascal remains nostalgic of the “old” Idris that favored quality over flashy displays, yet still performs the work it does, with quality and attention, seemingly to remind people of the perceived “golden age” that Pascal and its employer had once worked for, believing the corporation’s commitment to quality, especially in its more elite circles, is something it has to uphold.

[geeves]

easiest +1 of my life, naut is literally the coolest to ever do it

[Maxspells]

Instant +1 from me boss

[The Stryker]

Hi and thanks for applying, just some concerns for the application.

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What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: 

Could you give an example of how an IPC might learn a skill, and how treatment of IPCs differs throughout the Spur?

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This made it a valuable advisor among the bar’s clients, one motivated by its job and not by the premises of wealth or reward.

Did Pascal face any discrimination after it moved to the Alaena? It feels a little optimistic for an IPC in the Alliance to go from being assaulted to being a "valuable advisor". What was Pascal's day to day like while having this job? How did it find life on Silversun, especially with thirty years, an incredible amount of time for an IPC, passing?