Pope Dave The 3th - Skrell Writer Application

[Pope Dave The 3th]

FOREWARD: I understand that I am entirely unqualified to run Skrell lore. However, I elected to make this application anyway given that Skrell lore has been in a state of limbo for months. I will elaborate further later on.

Ckey/BYOND Username: Pope Dave The 3th
Position Being Applied For: Skrell Lore Writer
Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page?: Yep.
Past Experiences/Knowledge: I worked over with Paradise for several years as part of their lore team, and wrote quite a bit for them. Here at Aurora, I've done a significant degree with the Human Lore team, specifically Schwann and Kintsugi. 
Examples of Past Work:

https://forums.aurorastation.org/topic/22671-upgrades-sol-alliance-flags-joint-lca-with-the-ill-fated/#comment-183388

https://forums.aurorastation.org/topic/22650-updates-himean-solarian-relations/#comment-182568

I've got a few more LCAs in the barrel, but they've not been fully accepted yet.

Additional Comments: I fully understand that I lack most of the qualifications needed for an applicant to a full-on lore writer. I have no deputy experience, only around a month of experience as a wikiman, and not even a Skrell whitelist to my name. However, I also understand that Skrell lore needs someone at the rudder and nobody else has stepped forward. As such, I'm going to throw my hat into the ring, but would be entirely willing to withdraw this if a more qualified candidate appears.

Even so, I still believe I can be effective in the position. Should I be accepted, I am more than willing to learn on the job and work closely with more experienced lore developers to ensure Skrell lore is the best it can possibly be. I promise to make extensive use of my lore deputies, as they probably know more about the subject than I do, and definitely have more experience writing about it than I do. In a similar vein, I promise to work with the Skrell playerbase as much as humanly possible to ensure that any changes made are appreciated by the people actually doing the playing of Skrell. I may be an Alliance nerd at heart, but I will do my utmost for the Skrell regardless.
 

1. What do you think are the primary themes of Skrell lore? If you got this position, how would you develop them?
To me, the main themes of Skrell lore revolve around their status as the longest-lived humanoid species in Orion, together with the enduring age of their primary representative in Nralakk Federation. The Skrell are positively ancient, matched only by the utterly insane timescale the Vaurca have. With Skrell being extraordinarily long-lived, and the Federation existing as an entity for thousands of years, it places both in the prime position to act as the benevolent guide of the younger races as they journey into the spur. ...Is what I would say, if the Federation hadn't been utterly crippled by the most powerful rogue AI in the history of Orion. The true primary theme of Skrell lore, in my eyes, is how inertia and time can keep a nation and a people moving down a path that seems suicidally foolish to an outsider. The Federation placed itself at the mercy of a being entirely outside of its control once under Glorsh, before repeating its mistake again with the wholesale adoption of Phoron as a substitute for the priceless Glorsh-era Void Tech. The last point also heralds one of many time bombs waiting for the Federation, and all the Skrell inside it, as the decaying remnants of Glorsh's inventions tick ever-closer to failure.

I'd like to further develop this storyline by showcasing the (in my eyes, anyway) inevitable decline of the Federation as Phoron dries up, its systems of surveillance and control become more and more unsustainable, and the decaying Glorsh-era supertechnology finally breaks down for good. I'd like to explore a power that's decaying by inches and doesn't yet realize it's obsolete, and the increasing desperation it will resort to in order to prop up a system that's being spinning for far too long. And most importantly, I'd like to explore what comes after, even if that particular point is a long time away.

That said, this by far the area I have the least experience in, and I'd like to convene with the deputies before making any decisions in this area, as my view of Skrell and the Federation may be entirely incorrect for what they're doing.

2. What do you think is the strongest part of Skrell lore currently and why?
The Federation. Nralakk is honestly insane with how detailed, deep, and well-thought all of its lore is. Every aspect of Nralakk, from its political scene to its governmental organs to the people trying to make it explode, are all richly detailed and narratively consistent. In particular, I love the uniqueness of Nralakk's brand of incentive and media-based authoritarianism, alongside the genuinely terrifying routes for a surveillance state to take when it can genuinely enforce its will inside of your own head.

Beyond this, Skrell are also very well-portrayed as a species which fits a comfortable niche between completely alien (as with Diona and Vaurca) and comprehensibly humanoid (as with Tajara). Being extremely long-lived amphibians with funky psychic powers does wonders in making them feel distinct, while their understandable social structures and politicking make them still relatively easy to get into as a new reader in a way I couldn't manage with something like Vaurca.

3. What do you think is the weakest part of Skrell lore currently and why?
The massive focus on the Federation, which overshadows every other part of Skrell lore. All of the pages in the Organizations/Factions/Politics and Culture/Society/History of the Skrell directory are detailing either parts of the Federation or the actions of Skrell exclusively opposed to the Federation. Every notable Skrell is either actively in service of the Federation or directly opposed to it as part of a resistance group. There are no real viable alternatives to the Federation, with the closest things to it being Traverser resistance groups and Marauder fleets, the former of which can hardly be included on this list since the Federation effectively suborned it with promises of autonomy. All told, Skrell lore has a major deficit in variety, and this focus on the Federation places significant constraints on the origins of Skrell characters. 

4. What do you think are your strongest and weakest attributes in terms of working on a team, and why?
Strengths: 

• Adaptability. I'm always willing to try new ideas and new approaches when running a team or working within one.
• Communication.  In any leadership position, I take great pride in my willingness to consult and utilize my subordinates when working as a team, especially in scenarios where I am somewhat lacking in knowledge and experience, such as this one. 
• Patience. I've got a significant degree of experience in wrangling individuals of questionable sanity to accomplish tasks, so I know the value of being patient with a team, especially one that's likely got its own ideas for how Skrell lore should move forward.

Weaknesses:

• When I assume control over a project or team, I typically very much presume I am in control of said team, and expect my subordinates to follow my orders. This, of course, works a lot better for the places I do this IRL than with volunteers on the forum for a sci-fi roleplaying game. I'll do my best not to micromanage or be authoritarian here, especially given my inexperience, but I'd like for the deputies to be aware of it in advance.
• On a less serious note, I have a tendency to procrastinate and bounce between projects like a ping-pong ball.

5. With Anabasis in development, what are three things you want to change regarding Skrell moving forward?

• The addition of new Skrell-majority states. The Federation as the de-facto representative of all Skrell in the Spur has lasted for literally thousands of years. While this makes lore creation significantly easier, it also stifles the uniqueness of Skrell as a species, and gets perilously close to the sci-fi trope of a government which represents an entire species (something not helped by the Federation actively trying to represent every Skrell ever.) Though this is probably something to put off until NBT2, I would absolutely love to see new states pop out of Nralakk.
• More focus on Skrell outside of Nralakk. While this does somewhat interlock with the point I made above, new Skrell states probably aren't coming until NBT2, unless a massive shift happens in the Traverse again. By contrast, there are plenty of smaller Skrell populations around the Spur that deserve more attention, such as Mendell's Starlight Zone, Ouerea, and the massive population of Skrell in the Solarian Alliance that gets effectively zero screentime. 
• Proper love for the Warble Enquirer, and possibly more Skrell-based news channels. Warble Enquirer hasn't had an update since the summer of last year, and it was the only newspaper servicing the Federation, let alone any Traverse entities or Skrell enclaves in other states. Rectifying this issue is an absolute necessity to ensure that Skrell lore feels connected to the wider Aurora setting, and that players feel they're in the know on how the Federation is doing in the Spur.

6. The Skrell lore writer is a position that comes with two deputy writers under them on the team. It is the writer's job to manage their team, in addition to their duties of moderating the WL. Given that, what skills do you have that you think will assist you in this? On the opposite end, what do you believe is your weakest link regarding management and moderation?

• Skills: Personnel development and a results-oriented mindset. When I'm leading a team, I want the people under me to be the best they can be, in every area possible. Leading by example, building trust, and consistent communication with my subordinates are things I value very highly and am constantly working on. In a similar vein, I also want those under my command to do their own work however they see fit, so long as it produces results. 
• Weakness: My greatest issue here is going to be availability, specifically for the game side. While I've often got plenty of time I can dedicate to writing or handling things on Discord or in the forums, the game's a different story. As I often lack a dedicated two to three hour block to enjoy a round. I'll likely be delegating a lot of on-ground moderation and management responsibility to my deputies.
• Whitelist Moderation: I'll be entirely honest, I have no idea how this works. I will, however, try to be reasonable in the distribution of whitelists in all cases. If someone wants to play a Skrell, I'll be more than happy to help them through to that goal.

7. What are you thoughts on the Nralakk Federation's current geopolitical situation?
I believe that the Federation's situation is precarious, with the potential to become far worse thanks to the Grand Councilor's questionable geostrategic moves. With the Phoron Scarcity in full swing, the Federation faces the potential for a disaster close to the scale of Glorsh-Omega's collapse, as the bedrock of the Spur's technological advancement grows rarer every day.  In order to counteract this, Grand Councilor Jrugl has made the decision to expand ties with Biesel and the megacorporations of SCC over the Federation's longtime ally of the Alliance. While this move was made in a seeming period of détente in the Spur, it was shortly followed by a rapid escalation of tensions between Biesel and Sol once more, alongside the developing situation in the South between Dominia and Elyra. This places the Federation in the unenviable position of having tethered themselves to a nation they are geographically isolated from, burned bridges with what was thought to be their closest ally, and potentially started down the same road to corporate over-influence that nearly destroyed the Alliance. By courting Biesel and the SCC, Jrugl is playing with fire, and it's still up in the air whether it's going to scorch them.

[hellfirejag]

Hello, I have a question for you that more comes from the developer side of things. What do you consider to be your stance on coordination between Dev-Lore on actually implementing various aspects of skrell lore ingame? How open are you to coordinating with the Dev side of work to make sure that new additions that you wish to see happen are technically feasible? I really wouldn't want to run into another situation of "Oh yea Skrell can flip light switches and use the computer with their mind" being thrust upon us devs without any notice.

[Pope Dave The 3th]

32 minutes ago, hellfirejag said:

Hello, I have a question for you that more comes from the developer side of things. What do you consider to be your stance on coordination between Dev-Lore on actually implementing various aspects of skrell lore ingame? How open are you to coordinating with the Dev side of work to make sure that new additions that you wish to see happen are technically feasible? I really wouldn't want to run into another situation of "Oh yea Skrell can flip light switches and use the computer with their mind" being thrust upon us devs without any notice.

As much communication as is humanly possible. I'm of the opinion that Code dev and Lore dev are two parts of the same body, and them not communicating is an excellent way to torpedo a project. I'll be more than happy to include Dev on all major lore decisions, especially anything that requires coding effort. 

I've been on the receiving end of being stonewalled by a development team on a different server, and I would never want to subject anyone to that myself. 

[hellfirejag]

Yea, I think I'm down to support this application. I think Pope is a great fit for the job. I actually consider his lack of a Skrell whitelist a plus in this case, as I feel like Skrell lore is currently in a bad place where it desperately needs to have a writer who doesn't benefit directly from the Status Quo. Sklore desperately needs a lot of improvements, and I think Pope is a good fit for that.

 

This app has my +1

[naut]

There's a running foot-dragging in the lore team happening due to you not having the Skrell whitelist before making this application. I know this wasn't listed as a prerequisite before (it is now) and I apologize for retroactively applying it here, but I think to make people more comfortable in your knowledge of the way Skrell actually work, I'd suggest making a Skrell WL application in tandem with this one; that way we can review both sides holistically and determine eligibility then.

[Pope Dave The 3th]

On 30/03/2026 at 10:31, naut said:

There's a running foot-dragging in the lore team happening due to you not having the Skrell whitelist before making this application. I know this wasn't listed as a prerequisite before (it is now) and I apologize for retroactively applying it here, but I think to make people more comfortable in your knowledge of the way Skrell actually work, I'd suggest making a Skrell WL application in tandem with this one; that way we can review both sides holistically and determine eligibility then.

Done!
 

 

[Boggle08]

wosop

 

Skrell and Dionae possess one of the most mutually integrated cross-species connections from a player-facing standpoint. You have Fed integrated Dionae, Xrim, and Hieroaetheria sharing overlapping zones of influence with the Nrallak.

There was a time when Dionae lore had severe issues with scope creep, and setting fragmentation. We've since cut, trimmed, or reconsolidated Dionae in nearly every single region they operated inside of, with the exception of everything associated with Skrell lore. I'll admit, we haven't' had a lot of collaboration between our teams lately, but at the same time, extricating any of our current backgrounds or existing obligations with Skrell lore would cause too much damage. 

Three questions:

1. What are your general thoughts on the Skrell/Dionae connection?

2. How do you see Xrim/Federation integrated Dionae change over time, based on what what's publicly known about the NBT2? What would be some things you would or wouldn't want to see from that? We probably got about three years till the setting change. 

3. What sort of relationship do you expect between Hieroaetheria, and the Nrallak Federation?

Edited Wednesday at 19:06 by Boggle08

[Pope Dave The 3th]

33 minutes ago, Boggle08 said:

wosop

 

Skrell and Dionae possess one of the most mutually integrated cross-species connections from a player-facing standpoint. You have Fed integrated Dionae, Xrim, and Hieroaetheria sharing overlapping zones of influence with the Nrallak.

There was a time when Dionae lore had severe issues with scope creep, and setting fragmentation. We've since cut, trimmed, or reconsolidated Dionae in nearly every single region they operated inside of, with the exception of everything associated with Skrell lore. I'll admit, we haven't' had a lot of collaboration between our teams lately, but at the same time, extricating any of our current backgrounds or existing obligations with Skrell lore would cause too much damage. 

Three questions:

1. What are your general thoughts on the Skrell/Dionae connection?

2. How do you see Xrim/Federation integrated Dionae change over time, based on what what's publicly known about the NBT2? What would be some things you would or wouldn't want to see from that? We probably got about three years till the setting change. 

3. What sort of relationship do you expect between Hieroaetheria, and the Nrallak Federation?

Heya! 

I admit, Dionalore is absolutely not my strong suit, but I hope to answer all of your questions adequately here.

1. It's pretty neat! I'm always a fan of examining how multiple species interact when living in the same country, and Diona are pretty well-documented with how they're living in the Federation. I'd say it makes plenty of sense here. The Federation's got a population crisis going and has a stigma against manual and low-skill labor, therefore making outsourcing it to Diona a logical move. Beyond the practical side, it's also neat for two predominantly alien factions to have noteworthy interactions with one another without the influence of human factions or megacorps.

2. Given that the Federation is probably going to explode during NBT2, I'd expect integrated Diona to continue playing a large role in whatever comes in its wake. Whether it being Diona-majority protostates, equal unions, or much weirder things, Diona will remain with the Skrell even if the Federation itself does not. As for Xrim, it seems to have the makings of a potential post-Federation state, with plenty of material for conflict between the Enlightened and Scorned. 

3. I'll be honest, I don't know. The current wiki page says they've got warm and amicable relations, which I believe makes sense, though it may change should The Consortium's expansion begin to cause friction with the Traverse.

Overall, I'd be happy to keep this particular connection, and I'd like to integrate Dionalore thoroughly in any discussion on what to do with them generally, as, being entirely honest, I have a hard time wrapping my head around Diona.