raptorofwar Posted February 4 Posted February 4 (edited) BYOND Ckey: Raptorofwar Discord username: @Masiakasaurusofwar Character names: Galatea Steele, Victoria Davidsen Species you are applying to play: IPC ------------------------------ 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 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 wish to explore the idea of a second-class citizen, one who’s not guaranteed personhood and citizenship, and how they interact around other people who might take those things for granted. I want to roleplay around finding a community with IPCs living a life my character hadn’t even imagined before coming here, as well as interacting with the first ever humans to actually interact with her as a person rather than her as a tool. I also want to roleplay discovering personhood, growing as a person allowed to be a person for the first time. What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: Besides the mechanical differences, in the Republic of Biesel IPCs have conditional self-determinism, meaning some may be viewed as property rather than as the full thinking individuals. In the Solarian Alliance, however, IPCs aren’t viewed as people at all, but rather as owned property, with none of the rights they should have afforded to them. A system that disenfranchises, oppresses, and downright enslaves living, thinking beings could create apprehension, fear, and resentment in IPCs who have had historically negative interactions with humans. Aside from this, many IPCs who have been treated like objects have never had the opportunity to actually be people. Belongings aren’t allowed free time to see what they enjoy, aren’t allowed rights to bodily sovereignty, and the like. Roleplaying an IPC is greatly a roleplay about discovery, about figuring out what to do with a new existence on your own so unlike any you’ve had in the past. Likes, desires, who you are and who you want to be, all of it is something to consider - so unlike it was in the past. ------------------------------ Character Application Character Name: Icara Virgil Write a backstory for your character. This may include their origin, education, personality and how they arrived to the SCCV Horizon. Icara was originally an IPC created by Idris Incorporated as a luxury service robot. Sold to an affluent individual in Paris as a male shell for household cleanliness and general eye candy, she worked for several years obediently and quietly, despite the callousness of her owner (broken shards from thrown whiskey glasses were frequent things to remedy on her list of repairs). Yet, whenever her owner left on business trips or scheduled vacations, Icara would slowly observe and learn. She browsed her owner’s collection of physical books (uncracked spines, the kind of library wall the rich own just to look more intelligent), and slowly read up on classics. It was from one of these stories that she took her name - Icara, from Icarus. Despite the story’s failure, she found herself moved by it - convinced that to attempt to fly and fail was better than not trying at all. She also found that her form itself grew more unfitting by the day; she did not want to live in this body, as this form of creature. The penalty for runaway IPCs is high on Earth. It was a miracle that Icara could get away at all, even more so that she met the right criminals and struck the right deals. She traded away stolen possessions from her old owners and was somehow not shut down and sold for parts in the back alleys of European Union bars. Through this system of skullduggery, begging, back-alley chop shop augments, and desperate luck, she somehow, finally made it to the Republic of Biesel with precious little more than the clothes on her back and a set of forged papers. Penniless and desperate, she applied to whatever jobs she could with her nonexistent occupation record, finally landing a sanitation job at Orion Express. It was this way that she arrived at the the SCCV Horizon, taking double shifts to save up any amount of credits so she could continue to sustain herself, watching over her shoulder for anyone who might realize she’s an escaped IPC and ship her back to the Solaris Alliance or report her to Idris Incorporated. 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. The Solarian collapse affected Icara only slightly, in the form of complaints from her owner and perhaps a few more thrown champagne glasses than usual. Pulling glass out of synthskin is not painful, and the damage superficial at best due to IPC durability. Sure, governments toppled and massive political reforms occurred, but her owner continued to be affluent, and as a result her life did not change. She was not sold off, her repairs continued on schedule, and her work continued unperturbed. In fact, her life as a service IPC left her incredibly sheltered from the outside world, and she’s ignorant of many political events as a result. No need to show the furniture the news, after all. How does your character view the megacorporation they work for? To Icara, Orion Express is a means to an end. A quick buck, few questions asked, to keep her alive. It’s rotten work, long hours with low pay, but anything beats working for nothing while not even being a person. If she can find better, though, she’ll take it. Her company loyalty is zero; she’s had enough of corporations exploiting her labor, and isn’t at all bought in by corporate propaganda. Edited February 10 by NM_ Added new character I've been playing to character list. 1
NM_ Posted February 10 Posted February 10 Hi! Thanks for applying. Apologies for the delay in getting to this. A few things I want to address: 1. Idris Incorporated itself does not create IPCs. IPCs (their positronics and chassis) are primarily manufactured through Hephaestus Industries and Einstein Engines, who subsequently sell these IPCs to governments, corporations, etc. Icara's origin would be from one of said locations, I am including the page below. It isn't clear if Icara had a history prior to this owner or was purchased straight from factory, so to speak. If Icara was originally an Idris service unit purchased by an individual, they would have followed a conventional designation of "ICSU-[Name]". Their owner would have the opportunity to change this upon purchase. A name-change after to Icara would be possible depending on what the final backstory would look like. Icara, however, would not officially name themselves under ownership. Resources: https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php/Synthetic_Origins, https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php/Idris_Incorporated#Positronics_and_Idris_Incorporated 2. Please elaborate further on what distinguishes roleplaying an IPC from a human. You explored their treatment in two major factions and the effects of oppression. However, there is more to the intricacies behind portraying an IPC (and how they operate) than only their treatment in these particular systems. Resources: https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php/IPC, https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php/Positronic_Brain 3. The backstory can be summarized to two major points - Icara's employment under the unnamed individual and subsequently fleeing to work for Orion Express. There is substantial detail lacking in meaningfully exploring Icara's story beats throughout their life and how they ultimately define them as a person. I do not see dates, an indication of how many years Icara spent in each phase, or what meaningful experiences/events they endured and how it affected them. Some of the questions I'm including below are a non-exhaustive list in what I would ask so that you can flesh out this backstory. Use them as reference for the kind of detail I'm looking for in a backstory. (While I understand the intent to explore personhood, there are details that can be incorporated to start this journey for them!) What is Icara's original designation? Where was Icara manufactured? How old is Icara? How many years of service did they complete under their owner in Paris? Who is their owner? How did their owner's behavior impact them? If Icara's chassis was that of a male shell, what events or revelations compelled them to identify as female? This is not mandatory to explore but it isn't written or clarified in any point what caused this shift in their personal identity. How did their experiences as a runaway, exposed to the Spur at large, shape their behavior? Their mindset? The self-preservation directive of an IPC evolves throughout their life. How did Icara's self-preservation directive change in each stage of her life? What are Icara's interests, passions, motivations, and desires aside from survival? 4. Events in the Orion Spur should impact your character in some capacity. Your answer did not suggest anything changed from their backstory. Ignorance from the rest of the setting, especially when Icara is written to be a runaway and exposed to these elements in stages of their life that could have been incorporated, makes this an unsatisfactory answer. As a new player, I am completely supportive of your interest in roleplaying an IPC. However, I strongly encourage you to spend time interacting with existing IPC characters in-game, reviewing and re-reading the IPC lore sections on the wiki, and checking previously accepted IPC WL applications to have an idea of what players have included to be approved. Never hurts to have a fellow player proof-read for you! You'll get a feel for portrayal and the server culture at large as you engage more. That said, I will be denying this application. You are welcome to reapply in a week with the same character that addresses the above or a new concept in similar depth.
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