UnionCap's Fall into Lizard-dom - Unathi Whitelist sheet

[StewardsCap]

BYOND Ckey: UnionGuy

 

Discord username: unioncap 

 

Character names:
Sandip Jaidev - Ex-Gadpathurian Officer
Josiah Oved - Catholic Friar
Xioshi'Qum Koqun'Ouqu - Skrellian Xenoarchieologist 

Jugurtha Dada - EPMC man
Flin'tin Flackie - Oldhead
 

Species you are applying to play: Sinta’unathi

 

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General Whitelist Requirements 

 

What colour do you plan on making your first alien character?: Yu’kal Soil 

 

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

 

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?: I am a big medievalist fan, and I love the idea of playing an indentured peasant making their way through the world. The Unathi have always been a staple in every SS13 server I’ve played, they are always the foil to human individualism and their rougher tone makes them very alien. I promise I’m not a scaly, but a walking lizard is pretty cool and sick design wise. Beyond all these things, the Unathi Lore team has done excellent work with moghes and it is one of the most interesting spaces in the lore, a post-nuclear exchange world riddled with strife. It honestly could be it’s own game with how fleshed out (I’m not glazing I swear) each distinct faction on the planet is. 

 

What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: As I mentioned before, the Unathi have always clashed with humanities ideas individual over community, and the communal life of (most) Unathi is in stark contrast with that of a regular solarian. Another big difference is the primitive nature of the Unathi, who have existed for long swaths of time but have only recently made civilization on the spur’s scale. There is a good reason why Sol considered them one of the “Markedly inferior” races of the spur, their violent nature and outdated honor codes are silly or cruel in the eyes of a human or Skrell. Regardless, they rely on mannerisms more tied to body language and like medieval peasants of old; are overtly emotional. This blend creates a strangely confusing but intimidating co-worker who can make you think twice on things like their gender, creed, and religion. 

 

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Character Application

Character Name: Jekzaw Zawayi

 

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

 

Born in Res’karum a few years into the contact war, and lesser still into the nuclear exchange, it was a time where nothing grew. The Zazalai mountains remained the central authority of the Mudki and Yu’ka, the hegemon's shield from the east, coming from its impressive cliff and grand eastern gate. Shut off to keep the barbarians out, now it was barred off entirely to keep the raging winds from sweeping the city off its peak. The war that the guardsmen had been waiting for had finished before it even started, and the mountains just became a border checkpoint where eastern refugees clawed and begged to be let in. The Zawayi Clan laid west of the Res’karum range, long exploiting the caravan route to conduct barter and trade with the guilds in Tza or even the heartland. After the war the western merchants began to disappear, replaced by military convoys and the refugees from the mid-lands.

When Jekzaw was 6, much of what Zawayi did was reverted inward, now using their land to produce for themselves rather than seeking the outside. Jekzaw spent most of his childhood grazing the field with their older sibling, while their father kept the oath to the clan leader. Husbandry became increasingly hard as more and more sinta realized that the range had been spared. Refugees became more and more prevalent, from both the west and the east, and with them came their clashing culture and beliefs. It was custom to allow wanderers to stay somewhere out of courtesy, an honor that grew tiresome to the young Jekzaw. Many were harsh and rough, and bitter, some begged or some were Guwanagyn creatures. Notably, religious cultists from the Si’akh chose to stay outside, and humbly took the bare-minimum. They preached open heresy in great numbers; that the bomb only missed because they were unworthy to leave into the beastlands and must find salvation. They strangely ate only raw food, and some said they would rather starve than take garments or cooked foods. Many of the Th’akh, which Jekzaw was a follower of, denounced the nonsense for desperation. However, as the influx of refugees grew in great numbers, their lifestyle would grow more appealing.

The Zawayi clan were one of the first to heave, when Jekzaw was 14 the clan had already pushed into the mountains, and were right on the doorstep of the city. Jekzaw became a mountain herder, and had to learn the routes and the sign language of the mountaineers. Shortly after a disease swept through the peaks, and it killed his aged father and mother, soon after much of the world felt bland to them. Banditry became rather common, alongside the ones affected with the temptation of Aore. The fear of an Eszkazal attacking the flock was replaced with a bandit, or more depressingly a desperate sinta. It became such a worry that their clan leader pressed them into Res’karum, forging their gender as a warrior to get them drilled on military maneuvers. Jekzaw was gone for six months, spending time away in the city, learning about the layout and culture. Imbued with nihilism, the military training just made them more desensitized to the violence and suffering that they had already behold. There was one great thing from their time in service, they got to see the cliffside and more importantly, the fall with their own two eyes.  

 

When they had returned things had drastically changed, more misery awaited them. Much of the clan had become converted to Si’akh, as the situation grew too bleak for optimism, many had believed that the stone lords were ashamed of them. Less pessimistically, many opted simply because it was a lot more practical, the humble and cost-effective lifestyle that was attractive to the rural sinta was even gaining traction in the desperate urban slums. It had explained much of their hardship, and Jekzaw couldn’t disagree on its worldview, so they started adopting the si’akh doctrine with their middling knowledge on theology. Not too long after, as the si’akh community grew larger, did Jekzaw abandon most of their Th’akh principles.

Things had only gotten worse by the time they were an adult, combined with the harsh rationing and refugees, the city had little food to offer its sinta, hunger maddened them. When the Final Prophet made their leave in Res’karum, many followed, and many stayed too connected to the land. Jekzaw stayed, a decision they would come to later regret as much of the city grew enraged by their betrayal. It had only exacerbated things, and with the new found isolation fear spread of a hunt. The growing need to escape “Maraziites” persisted for a year or so, even as the rationing ended. Jekzaw knew their connection to the city, its tradition, its land, was their weakness against salvation. They had won over their citizenship as a legal adult, and soon later they had paid the tithe for Izweski citizenship. Without drawing attention, the young herder said a goodbye to their clan, intending to pay Zawayi three-fold of what they currently gave, an oath they have kept so far.

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.  

 

Jekzaw has only really heard of the Solrian Collapse and Peacekeeper Mandate, but in a religious context to justify the salvation presented by the final prophet. Obviously, they know Phoron has something to do with the world's problems right now but you couldn’t explain super-conductivity to a backward mountain herder. They think the scarcity is another punishment for the greed of the spur, and unless the people regain their strength and prove their independence from it, Azhal will not grant it back to them. Obviously, Titan rises has given a lot more opportunity within guildsmanship and staved off the famine with Not’zars end to rationing. However, the Stoking The Flames arc and New Blades Old Wounds are more prevalent with their narrative. The Final Prophet took most of the Si’akh with him, and it led to harsher discrimination as these Zazalaians left their post for him. Two of the main reasons that Jekzaw left Res’karum was because of this new isolation, and their failure to let go of the city to follow the prophet. The NBOW Mudki invasion arc was only a rumor then, but they saw the writing on the wall and left before it came to fruition. 

 

How does your character view the megacorporation they work for?

 

Orion is a huge guild, yet they seem to “care” about them. Orion is doing them a favor, literally saving them from being killed by the Maraziites, as fisher it is their honor to serve them. However, there have been some hiccups in the past; because Jekzaw is a peasant, they are barely able to read or write in their own language, let alone tradeband or TCB. The only reason they were able to even get a job at Orion was their husbandry and foraging skills, which in the field of botany were essential. Other than a few certifications, there wasn’t much paperwork for them to do, but their guildmasters took this weakness as a way to undercut them financially. Obviously, they catch on to TCB later, largely due to tax and financial management.

[evandorf]

Hey, thanks for applying!

I like the thought that went into your app and your backstory is especially well written but I had a few questions about the timeline and how certain things affect Jekzaw.

- You mention that as the refugee crisis and rationing worsened the Si'akh lifestyle grew more appealing and I'm curious in what way? Was the lifestyle spiritually fulfilling? Does Jekzaw appreciate the more ascetic aspects or is the appreciation more that it lines up with his new experiences? Is it something else entirely?

- I like the relationship Jekzaw has with the city. If I understand correctly, them staying behind while the majority of the other Si'akh followers departed left them isolated amongst the more traditional Th'akhists of the area. Jekzaw's sentimentality/reliance on the city also seems to be something they worked to eliminate to better follow Si'akh teachings. What sort of timeframe do you imagine the transition takes? They enter the area around the city as a young adult or nearly adult? You don't have to have exact dates I'm just trying to get a vibe on how long their conversion is marinating.

- In a similar vein to the previous question, the Maraziite Order wass disbanded in 2462 (at time of writing and without further retcons). How often and/or how recent was your interaction with them in Res’karum? Were there any crucial interactions or mostly just avoidance?

On 14/11/2025 at 09:39, StewardsCap said:

I promise I’m not a scaly.

Unfortunately, you will never beat the allegations.

[StewardsCap]

Hey, I wrote this pretty quick before my math lecture, so I did make an outline but forgot to actually develop on these points! 

 

2 hours ago, evandorf said:

You mention that as the refugee crisis and rationing worsened the Si'akh lifestyle grew more appealing and I'm curious in what way? Was the lifestyle spiritually fulfilling? Does Jekzaw appreciate the more ascetic aspects or is the appreciation more that it lines up with his new experiences? Is it something else entirely?

The Si'akh live humbler, which is always welcome in struggling places, at a young age they were able to have some decent respect from them even if they thought it was nonsense. However, something I fail to actually follow up on was the nihilistic nature that grew around their teenage years, it's implied that they had to fend against Sinta trying to steal from their herd. Herders are usually close enough to their animals and knowing how important the property was to the clan it only grew to desensitize them from violent retaliation against these Sinta, and hatred akin to a Misanthrope. There is a lot of "Sinta have become wicked and deserve punishment to repent for their sins" talk in Si'akh on a base level, even though it is all in good fortune for in the end. Again, because Jekzaw wasn't taught very well, they've kind of mixed the two together with their pessimistic outlook. This isn't to say they are a Doomsayer, but more like a quiet judging zealot. 

 

 

2 hours ago, evandorf said:

I like the relationship Jekzaw has with the city. If I understand correctly, them staying behind while the majority of the other Si'akh followers departed left them isolated amongst the more traditional Th'akhists of the area. Jekzaw's sentimentality/reliance on the city also seems to be something they worked to eliminate to better follow Si'akh teachings. What sort of timeframe do you imagine the transition takes? They enter the area around the city as a young adult or nearly adult? You don't have to have exact dates I'm just trying to get a vibe on how long their conversion is marinating.

Another fault of my quick writing! This happens after the Stoking the Flames arc, so around when they are 20/21, not too long ago. If I put more time I would have explained the discrimination that they faced within the city; since the Unathi seem very much based of peasant social standards, being a loner or a quiet guy was seen as really weird and off-putting. They're better now, but at the time they were really deep and reflective, struggling internally with their Th'akh and Si'akh faith and trying to make it work together. When the Si'akh left it was in their mind the time to leave, but they failed too because of that aforementioned connection to the place they've lived for their whole life, then like that it was a revelation to choose one or the other.  The second time they go to the cliffs makes them believe that the Stone Lords have remained apathetic to them, so they've done to the same.

 

 

2 hours ago, evandorf said:

In a similar vein to the previous question, the Maraziite Order wass disbanded in 2462 (at time of writing and without further retcons). How often and/or how recent was your interaction with them in Res’karum? Were there any crucial interactions or mostly just avoidance?

I'm not too sure on how the often the "Marazitte" Order was seen in the public eye, but as a rural herder they would've used the Waldensians method of just using local trust and make things from the environment to cover their tracks. However, they were deeply afraid of persecution, so they didn't even dare look at one or anything like that, a lot of it was general paranoia and exaggeration. I didn't get to explain it, again because of the speed I wrote this, but their older sibling had become a guildsman and actually converted to Sk'akh. Whether for benefits or actual devotion is up in the air, but to Jekzaw they were under the thumb of the "Marazitte", even though they disbanded. Thinking they were going to get gotten, combined with their spiritual pressure, they left for orion work. 

Yes, the Timeframe from OE to Horizon is around 2 years, I understand that is quite quick, but I believe their husbandry skills would be really exceptional for them to be picked up. 

Edited Monday at 21:56 by StewardsCap