Roostercat's Megacorp Lore Writer Application

[Roostercat]

- What is your BYOND username?

Roostercat12

- Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page?

I sure have!

- Do you have any past experience or knowledge working in a writing team or similar?

From 2019 to 2022  I was a part of the Vaurca lore team. Originally as a deputy and then being promoted to Lore Writer in  mid-2021. I also of course did a lot of work with the other lore teams at the time.

- Do you have any examples of past work?

I did a good bit of work on the King of The World arc alongside Schwann, Kyres, Sue, Shen and basically the rest of lore at the time. I made some of the articles and also did a lot of the writing on the Violet Dawn disaster and its ramifications on the Spur. 

Myself, Caelphon and Desven introduced Bulwarks through the Court of Queens minor arc for Vaurca.

Back in the dark ages I am the one that nuked Avowals for the Vaurca and spruced up the lore surrounding it. 

Myself and the other Vaurca lore team members (I believe Desven and Xev at the time) put together many of the current Vaurca lore pages, introducing lore about the Court of queens and giving each hive more of an actual identity, complete with cool ass flags made by Caelphon that are still in use today. 

I wrote the original planet pages for Caprice and Tret.

I did some expansions on Vaurca Religion once upon a time in the aforementioned dark ages.

Assisted Desven with the creation of the Tupii brood and related lore (though most of the work on that was his as I recall)

Introduced more lore for the Lii'dra including their tactics and the gear they use and also got rid of a lot of the weird ancient lore that didn't make much sense

I thiiiiink I helped in a major rework of Vaurca history in like early 2020. I'm not entirely sure how to verify that one. 

 

- What do you think you can bring to the setting as the megacorporation lore writer?

One of the biggest things that can be brought to Megacorporation lore is interactivity with the universe. Sure, they are currently a super powerful force that employs our characters, makes a lot of the tech, and supposedly has a ton of influence. But a lot of the time they don't actually use that influence and sort of just get along with each-other. I want to introduce more reasons for the Corporations to get into conflict with one another and break up the marriage as it were. This can also of course have ramifications in game and in Anabasis, especially since (if I recall correctly) characters won't necessarily HAVE to be corporate anymore. 

 

Being able to elaborate on new conflicts and strategies that the corpos are taking will open the door for new character concepts and more reasons for people to yell at each other on the ship.  One of my favorite parts of the old King of The World arc was the aspect of corporate espionage, mystery, and competition between EE and the newly formed Chainlink. I made cyphers for players to find, helped Kyres bring a conspiracy for people to theorize on, and it was all around a lot of fun both for me and, I'd like to think, the players. Bringing more corporate mysteries and theory crafting to megacorp lore would be a lot of fun for everyone, I think. In the new setting there would also be more reason for this, as the not-so-megacorps have to try their best to make an advantage. 

Besides that, fleshing out the corps themselves some more would be appreciated I think. Giving the subsidaries more impact and presence in game and in lore could help establish why the subsidaries are important to the functioning of the overall corp. I think the only megacorp that showcases the potential of this so far is PMCG, as that's basically the entire company. A mass of slightly different merc companies working under the same overall banner. This could mean entertainment lore via Idris, weapon lore via Zavod, or feats of engineering from Heph and more. It all serves to give people more things to think about when making a character and roleplaying. 

 

- What are megacorporations and Biesel lore lacking the most in your opinion? Do you have any ideas on how to rectify such?

The biggest thing that both are lacking in my opinion is interactivity and nuance with some exceptions. As I said in the last question, a lot of the time the corporations simply exist. They have their rules and can sometimes sway things, but ultimately they are just a vehicle for creating characters at the moment. I want to make them behave more like actual factions. 

How will Zeng-Hu cope with the loss of Phoron technology that is effectively keeping their biomedical business on life support? What will they turn to instead to stay afloat? 

Will Zavodskoi still have as much influence in Dominia now that their sway on the rest of the spur has become a mess? Will they focus on warring parties and independent worlds for customers? 

Will the entirety of Idris' banking system fold in on itself? 

What the hell is NT going to do now that Biesel and its cash-cow are starting to run dry? 

Is Orion Express going to just fall over dead?

There's also the possibility of the current corporations evaporating entirely, being replaced by new ones trying to eeke out an advantage.

These are all great questions and opportunities for pushing megacorp lore into something that doesn't simply exist in the game world, but changes it. I would ideally like to run an arc before Anabasis but I don't know when Anabasis is coming so that's a bit up in the air. I put a lot of thought into new setting lore, but I'd also like to expand on things before then. 

For example; What if Zeng-Hu facilities that concern genemodding start going up in smoke in bizarre heists? Who did it? What's the goal? You can give Zeng-Hu employees specifically a memo warning them of the danger and encouraging them to forward any info the crew may know, while individuals in the culprit faction may be encouraged to spread misinformation or even do espionage of their own in exchange for benefits like promotion, extra pay, property etc. It would create opportunity for players to clash with one another without actually forcing them into it. The results of the ongoing mess would affect tensions on the ship and could sway the end in one way or another. We've seen this happen before in one of my all-time favorite arcs in the entirety of Aurora lore, the Bad Moon on The Rise Arc. There were three factions, options for anyone and everyone to partake, and the result of PLAYER meddling determined the final outcome. People got killed because of their decisions, others got different endings. It was a hell of a lot of fun and an experience I would love to try and emulate again.

Megacorporate lore by default has significant potential for these kinds of things. 

Biesel lore in the same vein is lacking as it was originally where the server took place before NBT1, and since then has been somewhat absent from lore arcs as other arcs took the stage. It makes them feel not very important despite being a major economical and cultural hub. Simply a place that exists. The tones of imperialism that are currently present since the introduction of the CRZ could be used to rectify this. Maybe TCAF foreign legion forces are found in Coalition space without announcement, or pro-Biesellite/corporate movements with strange backing start cropping up in areas they really shouldn't. Biesel strikes me as the kind of nation that does want the best for people, but their methodology is the 'ends justify the means' type, causing them to lose perspective and ultimately cause problems when they try to push their ideas elsewhere. Since its also a major corporate presence, it can also be a springboard for the aforementioned corporate conflicts.

- On the other hand, what do you think is the strongest point of our megacorporation lore?

Megacorporate lore is very blendable into character backstories at the moment, allowing for player freedom. You could have someone in Zeng-Hu that loves the company and is die-hard loyal, augged to the nines and in ignorant bliss about their indentured servitude, and you can have the nervous wreck that only pretends to be loyal but wants any reason possible to jump ship. You could also just have the normal person who is there for a job and tries to avoid the drama. There's many ways to go with it and you can have someone from most of the planets in lore enter the company believably.

They function great as a springboard for characters. What does your character do off-duty? Catch up on paperwork? Get reprimanded by a superior in management? Are there any programs the company forces you to do? They can be great ways to break into a character by giving them likes and dislikes that fit with their job. I quite enjoy a lot of Idris characters especially for this reason.

 

- Based on what has been revealed so far about Anabasis, what are your thoughts on the corporations' place in the new setting and what ideas do you have about them, if any?

The biggest question I have about corps in the new setting is wondering just how fallen they are. In the dev diary, it seems that they have been relegated to certain areas of space like Eridani or other places where they can fill a niche. I'd like to think up reasons that make this work and allow them to still retain an impact. Maybe a corp does still exist in a few areas, but those places are somewhat far apart from one another. Do the different areas start shifting in company culture and overall focus? Can they really be called the same company anymore? It poses interesting questions that can form neat interactions ingame. It also would justify more rash action from the corporations, as any 'too big to fail' mentality will have long since been crushed and the higher-ups will be desperate to snag the upper hand over rivals. 

 

There's also the big question of whether there would be new corporations or if old ones would break up completely. I think the biggest target for something like this would probably be Orion Express. An interstellar war isn't great for an intergalactic trading company. Maybe they end up having to make a shift into mining and industry just to fill the void of the logistics work they once did now being under constant threat of interception, thus transforming the company. 

 

[meep109]

Do you have any plans for New Gibson? Out of every Biesel origin, I think it needs the most improvement.

[Roostercat]

5 hours ago, meep109 said:

Do you have any plans for New Gibson? Out of every Biesel origin, I think it needs the most improvement.

I think the base for New Gibson is pretty good. It has culture, good history that makes sense, and a little bit of drama. I think what it mostly needs is expansion. We know the Undirstads and Ovanstads have tension between them, but we don't know how this tension appears, or what it causes. Whether its special insults or even fights between the two different groups or maybe something larger that becomes a Biesel problem instead of just a New Gibson problem. 

I would also like to expand on the Greimorian infestation aspect that is briefly mentioned on New Gibson's page. Greimorians and, really, most space fauna period have next to no presence in lore, and making the bugs a legitimate menace would be very interesting for New Gibson as its a non-humanoid/sapient threat that the planet is ill-suited for due to its lack of a planetary defense force. This could give way to an extension of what exactly the Foreign Legion is there for, their occupation of Undirstads due to greimorian presence leading to even more animosity. It would also give NG characters in game more reason to react differently than the average person when Greimorians actually show up.

The other clear area for expansion is the superstition of the Undirstads, particularly the belief that the snow is alive. This could be VERY fun to play with and could also easily tie in with the greimorian issue. Everybody laughs until the snow eats a Legionnaire mid-mission in a Skrytisherbergi.