Mineymonkey's IPC Application

[Mineymonkey]

BYOND Ckey: Mineymonkey

Discord username: Mineymonkey

Character names: Mureil Sealis, Sebastian Kingsford, Nathaniel Schofield

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, I think I read them all!

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?: While it started off as just wanting to play something other than a human, it further progressed my naive understanding of IPCs! I've always been interested in cyborgs, robots, and the like, so finally taking the time to read the pages; I think they're very interesting. From the memory wipes, to the complexity of the positronic brain itself. In all essence, they appear to be still have the elasticity of an organic brain, so things like knowledge and quirks have the ability to develop throughout the IPCs existence. Really, it's the positronic brain that I find the most interesting aspect as it allows for organic character development for a synthetic character (which imo tend to not get as much character development).

What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: Their directives for one! Self-preservation is innate in humans, but a positronic will sort of, morph through time. From just the more concrete survival that all humans have to that of a deep and abstract concept that is due to the positronic. There's mechanical differences, but that's a bit outside the scope of the question, although it still has an effect. Not needing to eat and having to charge, and being susceptible to EMPs/Ions/Laser/Fire damage but being able to take brute damage better than others can have an effect on the roleplay. From having to make consistent stops at a charger, or standing between a crewmate with a bat and another crewmate. The memory wipes have a ton of concepts which benefit for a dedicated sheet specifically with dates to help better accommodating potential wipes.

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Character Application

Character Name: Strategic Program in Lethal Yield and Circuit Experimentation, AKA Dr. S.P.L.Y.C.E.

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

(https://www.pinterest.com/pin/603904631308818275/) A vague reference, mainly taking the figure 8 ball as a circular screen with an 8 on it for the frame's head. 

 

Dr. S.P.L.Y.C.E. is a Bishop Intelligence frame, specifically created for Zeng-Hu's close ally NanoTransen. Their understanding of integrated circuitry and modular weaponry from data packs, and the precision given Bishop intelligence frames makes it incredibly suited for finding new and improved weaponry. On paper, it is to help keep up with the advancements of Zavodskoi Interstellar's weaponry, but that's just the excuse. Mainly, NanoTransen was willing to purchase such a sophisticated scientists for their ranks on the SCCV Horizon, in hopes that one day, it can provide the SCC with a fine specimen of a research director. Though the doctor was just recently built, it was shipped to the Horizon before their exploration of the Crescent Expanse. While they're still working on their mandated social training, they will hopefully become a valuable asset to the SCC.

~

Marcus Hale, the ex-military handler of Dr. S.P.L.Y.C.E. views Splyce as a volatile mix of brilliance and danger. He doesn’t trust SPLYCE fully but respects his intellect. Despite the headaches, Marcus occasionally shows a fatherly patience, treating SPLYCE less like a machine and more like an unruly savant who needs guidance.  With that in mind, he looks the IPC up and down, and goes to pat his shoulder. "You're doing well with your social conditioning from what I hear, but- how do you feel about it?"

Dr. S.P.L.Y.C.E. looks Marcus up and down before spinning his head slightly. "QUERY: Can I tell the truth, sir?" 

"Su-" Marcus could barely get a word out before the IPC continued on, 

"To hell with it, of course I'm going to tell you the truth! QUERY: When can I begin my work, I'm getting antsy here, so many ideas that need to come to fruition?!?" SPLYCE just jets out of his speakers, which is around the base of the neck for the IPC.

"At least your manic ramblings are understandable.' Marcus exhales steeply before waving it off. "Still got some work to do, but that's just going to have to happen while you work, just be careful near your colleagues, ok?" 

SPLYCE spins his head some , before nodding. "Of course! I will do my best---! QUERY: Is that sufficient?"

Marcus shrugs, "Guess that's one of your quirks, but you don't have to query every thought like that? It's ok to internalize them."

"... Understood!" The speaker goes much quieter, to the point of not really being noticeable by his handler, the bishop intelligence precision at work, "I hope that is enough." 

 

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.  

While just manufactured, S.P.L.Y.C.E. has noticed the Phoron Scarcity decently well. He understands its limited capacity and incredible useful properties, that make it incredibly expensive and at this point, scarce. From printing simple things like rechargers, even cameras... phoron is needed. Not to mention the potential for phorons in research development, weapons, circuits, and general usage around the ship. Though the pirate situation has made the doctor more interested in pursuing ways to remotely and safely deal with threats to the ship and its crew.

 

How does your character view the megacorporation they work for?

Rather kindly! They're hot off the press, after all, so dissent is not really something that Dr. S.P.L.Y.C.E. is considering in general. He still has that calculative machine thought process that is expected in freshly printed IPCs and sees his the best way his directive of self-preservation is obtained, is by being a good IPC and not getting into any trouble, following regulations to a T, even snitching, anything to get in the good graces of his employer.

[The Stryker]

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

Quote

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

Could you expand a bit more on this section? You nailed self-preservation, but could you talk about how IPCs learn new information.

How are IPCs treated in other parts of the Spur? What rights does an IPC typically have?

There are some concerns regarding the character backstory as well.

• Dr. S.P.L.Y.C.E seems like an unusual name for an IPC. Aside from simply calling an IPC "Dr.", it's in all-caps. Does it stand for anything?
• SPLYCE has a very energetic way of speaking - is there any reason they talk like this?
• What other influences does Marcus Hale have on SPLYCE. Do they still stay in contact, even if SPLYCE is on the Horizon?
• In general, the application needs to talk more about why SPLYCE is the way he is. What influences, either in their programming or their lived experiences, have lead to the state of their personality at present?

[Mineymonkey]

From my understanding, the mechanisms for learning for an IPC is very similar to a human in that the positronic is capable of making neural connections to actually facilitate learning. They probably learn either more efficiently or faster due to the computer side of things... That and the memory wipe constantly looming over them, the usage of data banks for really quickly learning something. So they have the learning capability of a human in essence, or to simplify it for my own sake, but have databanks that can be installed (but its pretty much prohibited due to costs) and mind wipes being used to set the slate clean to speak.

 

IPCs in general are heavily questioned as whether or not they're really sentient beings. They face discrimination in just about everywhere in the Spur, only small pockets of small synthetic and well trusted individuals are a part of them which also probably holds a variety of run away synthetics... So from the sounds of it, most IPCs tend to opt to be owned due to a variety of reasons, typically due to the financial logistics of keeping an IPC running, but they can be deactivated at any time for an even better model, so over all, there's some danger no matter the type of IPC you are. Whether it be financial ruin, life of crime, or being deactivated with no question asked... it's a tough world for IPCs.

 

Yes, SPLYCE stands for "Strategic Program in Lethal Yield and Circuit Experimentation", the Dr. part was more of something they call themselves as their programming elates those in science and medical positions more than other positions, and to not have a feeling of inferiority, it was deemed to just add that to his designation. Think like how a dog in any position of ranking, is usually the highest ranked officer in the area, that kind of elevation is why they opted to add Dr... (Though from a game-play standpoint I was just going to name them SPLYCE)

 

Similarly, the manifestation of the positronic quirks so to speak have the IPC speak a bit erratically, sometimes including information that isn't necessary but genuinely harmless to share. This is mainly due to the age really and lack of working beside people. Social anxiety is something I really plan to incorporate with the IPC, and that's kind of how I've seen others deal with it. My way is to typically hide, so this will be an interesting task for me, but I feel I can play it. The "plan" so to speak is once he is a bit more comfortable around people and social interactions in general. Probably dropping the Query:, and slowing down their speech. Though that really depends on how the RP goes really, but that's what I had in mind.

 

My assumption here is that Marcus is on the Horizon, overseeing a variety of NanoTransen IPCs or even just tasked with handling just SPLYCE due to the more erratic/energetic nature the IPC has. I'm not really certain on this one, but they would likely be in very close contact throughout play, since he kinda reigns SPLYCE in and helps ground him. So Marcus might be the reason SPLYCE might break out of his own mini-loops so to speak of ideas, since there's probably a few databanks shoved in there... the interactions between them might give some error so to speak. 

 

Their lack of living experiences is sort of the reason they act the way they act, though some of their programming, mainly for designation is set in stone for them. 

[The Stryker]

Apologies for the delay here.

Could you expand a little bit more on how SPLYCE was treated and what experience they've faced thus far? I understand SPLYCE is very young, but past their interactions with Marcus, they must have some conception of how the world works, or at least their own thoughts and takes on the situation they find themselves in.

Edited Wednesday at 19:35 by The Stryker

[Mineymonkey]

No worries there!

 

SPLYCE's understanding is as follows:

• You're an important and expensive piece of technology, built for furthering the understanding for NanoTransen
  • The equipment is hard to maintain, and thus is best hidden away from danger
• Human (I say loosely here, as really all species) interaction is necessary, even if it is a bother
  • Marcus Hale helps anchor and keeps us in check with “applications,” “approval,” and “responsibility”
  • Just like how two is greater than one, take into consideration what the organics are doing. Even if my brain is "better" than theirs, two brains is better than one

• Primary Function: Research, innovation, and integration of advanced circuits, weapons, and scientific prototypes

  • Secondary Function: Observe human behavior and adapt experiments to their needs/ethics

  • Tertiary Function: Unrestricted self-improvement (locked behind Marcus Hale’s oversight protocols)

• The world is raw data, flows of energy, and potential experiments waiting to be reconfigured

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 20:09 by Mineymonkey
Formatting

[The Stryker]

Just some final questions for the application.

SPLYCE was recently activated. Do you have a precise age to align with their inexperience?

Why was SPLYCE created to eventually transition into the Research Director role as opposed to being designed for the role immediately? What does SPLYCE provide that an IPC with similar datapacks does not? What does SPLYCE offer that a human researcher does not?

Quote

"To hell with it, of course I'm going to tell you the truth! QUERY: When can I begin my work, I'm getting antsy here, so many ideas that need to come to fruition?!?" SPLYCE just jets out of his speakers, which is around the base of the neck for the IPC.

Is there a reason SPLYCE was programmed to speak like this, especially given the context of a corporate and professional setting? 

[Mineymonkey]

I will give him basically, 10-11 months, nearing the 1 year mark as he had to have some additional training on dealing with humans and other races... The idea is for them to gain on hand experience and learn, sort of leaning into the idea that the positronic is capable of learning outside of just data packs. Plus I want to have a sort of extra goal/character development to work towards (not feeling ready for a command wl rn either), but that is the OOC side of things...

One big thing that he offers compared to a human research is efficient supply usage (to keep it inline with the current situation, not that anyone might have expected this either). No worries of eating food or sleep, can work tirelessly at a pursuit the positionic was made specifically to do. They find joy in the tireless pursuit of knowledge.

The idea I have is that it is just a tiny quirk that over time will resolve itself, just showing the age of the positronic and its lack of social skills... At least that was my initial idea/understanding about younger positronics having little quirks like that. IDK if the term "masking" is proper here because the way they speak is a combination of lived experiences and programming... that's how he genuinely is with people. Though more so with Hale than with say, a captain or superior.