Girdio's (Fixed) Attempt to Apply For MegaCorp/Biesel Lore Deputy

[Girdio]

Ckey/BYOND Username: Girdio
Position Being Applied For: Biesel/Megacorp Lore Deputy
Have you read the Lore Team Rules and Regulations wiki page?: Yes.
Past Experiences/Knowledge: While not having experience in any team, I have had experience with submitting works to small zines and magazines.
Examples of Past Work: I am including an ongoing LCA proposal to provide support for having continued lore interest, and an interest in contributing to Aurora's worldbuilding. 

 

 

 

1) Answer the following questions concerning the Republic of Biesel:

What are your thoughts on the Republic of Biesel’s current politics, external and internal, and how would you like to see them develop? After returning, I've enjoyed the shift toward a heavier focus on the internal side of the Republic. I would love to see more happening in the Republic's internal politics that impacts the characters. The 2024 election arc was phenomenal for this, and I feel like there's opportunities to do more with this. Having the opportunity for characters to have more investment to Biesel would go a long way to making it feel lived in.

Many of the planets under the banner of the Republic of Biesel have lagged behind in development and/or lack good pull-factors. Is there a particular planet you would like to help revise and do you have any suggestions in that regard?’

Valkyrie comes to mind, first and foremost. I believe it’s seen substantial improvements in recent years, as it was very limited and has seen its expansion. I think we can go even further, though, by developing an actual identity for Valkyrie. 

Currently, it has a segment literally listed as “blah blah blah, tl;dr”, and the crime segment basically implies the Republic doesn’t care that Valkyrie is just a den of criminal activity, which seems weird.

Vaurca, Unathi, and Tajara are all on Valkyrie, but you could almost not even realize it because it almost seems like an off-handed remark. I think going into detail on how these citizens are seen on the planet by the humans would go a long way. After all, Biesel has a lot of “shining beacon of diversity and equality” on the surface, while prioritizing humans at the end of the day.

I think Valkyrie could benefit from the concept of the “Valkyrian Dream” actually being defined and expanded outward. Perhaps the Valkyrian Dream isn’t just something for Sinta citizens, and instead refers to the self-determination that the Commonwealth of Valkyrie wants to instill in all its citizens, to put itself apart from Biesel. A dream that is at odds with the rampant crime on the planet.

Having an ongoing effort to try and curb this corruption, leading to burnout and disillusionment, as it’s getting harder and harder to stop what has become so ingrained into the planet. Having subsets wanting to have honor in their home “planet”, while others just wanting to scrap by and not wanting to rock the boat, being at odds can provide conflict both within the planet and off the planet for Valkyrie-born residents. It also gives characters a reason to leave and seek off-world employment. 

 

Is there anything about Biesel's (the planet) lore you really like or really dislike? I considered Biesel to be the focus of "a planet I think needs revising", because, while I love Biesel, a substantial part of the draw to the planet is Mendell (for...very obvious reasons, of course). There's noted to be so much else on the planet, but the development of stuff outside Mendell is rather weak. I would love to see even just small, noted locations for characters in a city to reference, without it having to be headcanoned. Or, just in general, more reasons for characters to visit Biesel and go somewhere besides Mendell.

That said, obviously, Mendell is a high point in both Aurora lore and for world-building, as each district is unique and offers a reason for characters to have a connection with or familiarity with.

 

2) Concerning the Megacorporations:

Can you tier-list the megacorporations, graded by OOC characteristics (eg. characterisation, writing quality, contribution to the setting, relevance to played characters) with brief reasoning as to why they are graded such. Bonus points if you go the full mile with graphics (you don’t have to, that’s effort).

A

Idris starts it off. I’m always a fan of groups in media like Idris to begin with, but I appreciate the current angle of how they cultivate their image. The ability to, in some small ways, pull at more strings than one would expect ties the typical “deal with the devil” motif together. Then there is obviously conflict with Silversun that provides a direct show of the priorities of Idris, and the conflict their mere existence can cause. Being a source of conflict for characters, through their planet of origin, their horrible loans, or the uncanny nature of their IRUs is only rivaled by…

 

Heph, another A ranker. Obviously, Himeo and N.H.P. come to mind regarding human lore and the negative influence that Heph has had on them. Providing the opportunities for characters to be opposed to a megacorp, to have tangible ties to the lore, is just as important as providing characters with reasons to support them. There is an argument to be made that, despite the harm Heph has caused, it still outweighs the alternative, which avoids it simply being the typical “evil” company.

 

The final A-rank is Nanotrasen. Potentially due to being such a long-term staple, it's hard to see NT as anything BUT fleshed out and important. Hell, they have their hands in almost everything, in some form or fashion. Biesel and the SCC exist largely because of them. They're the top dogs in the room by a large margin, and the reach is felt. That said, it’s hard to nail down what their identity really is because they’re spread so far around. It’s hard to ignore their impact in both the long history of lore, though, and even without a strong identity, I feel so much of Aurora has been built with them in mind.

 

B

The first B-Rank is the PMCG. It does really well, providing a multifaceted “merc” group, and it provides at least (some) in for in for each species, although skrell lack something that is individually “theirs”. I think the biggest issue when it comes to the PMCG is that they feel pretty one-note. You play Eagle Corp if you wanna play an ex-criminal, you play Ringspire if your character loves killing, you play Freewater if you’re a Unathi, so forth. Not to say that is a bad thing, and there’s obviously nuance here. That said, I feel like these companies could be given more to them, to help further explain why someone may join them.

The second B-Rank is Zeng-Hu. There’s so much cool stuff about Zeng-Hu, and a lot of it feels like “pushing the boundaries of science and medicine, even without caring what happens.” Hell, the focus on furthering oneself at the cost of personhood is a theme that rings pretty strong with quite a lot of characters - most obviously Galatea. The question of “does this company actually care about my well-being, or am I just another experiment?” I feel like the biggest issue, though, isthat  I can’t remember the last time Zeng-Hu has really had a heavy focus. Obviously, there’s the current Mindblankers going around in lore, but it feels like there are opportunities to have Zeng-Hu drop in - there’s a ton of research-flavored arcs that can come about because of Zeng-Hu.

The third B rank is Zavod. As someone who loves the thought of companies within the SCC not being all super friendly with each other, the long-term conflict with Heph provides a realistic look at things not being “peaceful” within the SCC. That said, outside of this…it’s kinda hard to figure out something to say about Zavod. They make guns, and they’re professional. I feel like Z.I.s could be expanded, since people love playing as them, but compared to ISUs or IRUs, there’s not much to figure out what makes them unique. 

Finally, is Orion. Initially, I had Orion down in C-Rank with Einstein, but the more I thought about it, the more I think Orion fills its niche. I don’t think Orion is bad; it’s just okay. I feel like, though, it being okay is okay. Given the fact that it’s the company that hires pretty much whoever, and the employees being just regular fodder instead of “the best of the best” that a lot of the other companies expect, provides a good contrast to the professionalism of the rest. I can’t really think of anything else to call Orion as “quick, easy, and cheap”, and I feel like that’s something the company would be proud of.

C 

There’s only one company left.

The first, and only, C-Rank is Einstein. I love the fact that Einstein is, all things considered, a pretty good workplace (if you’re not an IPC, but that’s a high ask anyways, sorry robots). For all the demonization and hatred the SCC wants people to believe, they’re just…typical people and not some big bad villain. That said, because Einstein is so much of a boogeyman, they rarely come up anytime, and it’s hard to really justify talking about them or mentioning them, making them something a lot of players may not even realize exists.

 

3) Write a small Google Docs proposal for any piece of Republic of Biesel or Megacorporate lore you are interested in for the current setting. The proposal can be a wiki lore addition or a stand-alone forum article, but must be >=2 okay-length paragraphs.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dyhXAm1pDOidTgsKywHiKX7KXxM_gZgQExloMnr9SQ4/edit?usp=sharing

This is a proposal focusing on the concept of corporations trying to undermine each other. The intention is to BOTH provide players with ways to come up with traitor gimmicks and exploitables to interact with, and also provide flavoring in regards to the inner workings of the corporations.

4) Finally, what’s a piece of sci-fi you are most inspired by in your writings, be it a media franchise, novel, game or something else?

Is it cliché to say The Expanse? In particular, the world-building and character development through the entire series were always really reminiscent of a good DnD party/setting, which I suppose makes sense given its origins. 

The Alien franchise is huge, and I love the aesthetic and overall worldbuilding in it's setting, along with the character relations (most) of the entries have, and whenever I think of good sci-fi horror - it typically comes back to Alien.

The Children of Time series, along with the Wayfarers series, are also pretty big inspirations that I look back at whenever I’m writing something.

Edited Tuesday at 01:46 by Girdio
A lot of the formatting was lost when I copy and pasted everything from Google Docs. It looked a lot cooler before, I promise.