ElorgRHG Posted June 6 Posted June 6 (edited) BYOND Ckey: ElorgRHG Discord username: elorgrhg Character names: (I do not stick with any single character for often) Thirizi Kazhkz - Dominian Unathi, Security Officer, Zavodskoi Nirja Qazharii - DPRA Njarir, Hangar Technician, Orion Samriq Rajzirkal - PRA Hharar, Physician, PMCG (Kazarrhaldiye Operations Group) Mahraz Ahrimrra - DPRA Tajara Mix, Hangar Technician, Orion Species you are applying to play: IPC ------------------------------General Whitelist Requirements What colour do you plan on making your first alien character?: (IPCs exempt) IPC colors hopefully. Have you read the lore pages for the species you wish to be whitelisted for?: So I have. 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?: This is a rather unhinged answer to this question, but I really love depictions of slavery in sci-fi settings. How this outdated and uneconomical practice somehow continues into the future, and how it plays out. Seeing how the corporations of Aurora mistreat something that, while young, is just a robot is very interesting, especially how later down the line an IPC can, or would eventually become, a real person (or at least strongly resembling how a real person would act). And for Aurora, I really do enjoy the writing for Idris, and ZI, units, with things like having their ownership branded right onto their names, or being threatened with being wiped if they do not perform adequately. The second part is that I always wanted to make a, forgive the language, a corporate bootlicker character, and having a character that is literally owned by one, is an excellent chance to try such an archetype. The third part is that I am interested in playing a robot that is just a robot. I am not very interested in shell frames nor do I think I will ever be interested in making a shell character because to me they are too indistinguishable from humans. But the Industrials, and Baselines (especially Bishops and Zeng-Hu frames) are right up my alley. Especially the G1s and G2s, these walking forklift tanks that were made for hard labor but some corporations thought “hey, we can also use these to beat people up actually” is just an awesome concept. The fourth part is the IPC rework which I am a bit late to, seems like an interesting thing to experience on my own. Lastly, and I don’t know why, seeing how various IPC players roleplayed after being EMPd with spouting random error message nonsense was, to me, endearing for some reason, I cannot say why. What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: At first I thought playing an IPC is just playing a slightly different human, maybe because of my exposure to shells, maybe not. But I’ve once been told/overheard someone joking that being autistic helps to roleplay an IPC, that comment for some reason made me decide to read more into it on the lore side of things. First of all, IPCs are very literal so to say, nothing for IPCs happens subconsciously, this makes every action of an IPC deliberate. They do not necessarily feel emotions that would make them act out, though an older IPC can develop an emotional framework on how they make their decisions later in their existence. They base everything on (facts and) logic, not brain chemicals or intuition, just what makes sense at the time. What is especially interesting is how an IPC learns. A young, fresh off the production line IPC can, and will be, behaving like a robot, as they are a fresh slate. But if given datapacks, or just enough exposure to other humans (or any other species I guess) they will start to emulate them, eventually learning how to have a personality of their own. This also means that an IPC at the venerable and old age of 2 can be on a similar, if not exact, level of education as a human after years of school, though it can resemble talking to a brick wall. What is also important to mention, that compared to other species, an IPC is often just equipment, either owned by a private person or by a corporation. You as an IPC are not viewed as a person by a large part of the Spur, just a thing. Damaging or destroying an IPC is not even assault and murder, but vandalism and “automaticide” respectively (not counting places like Konyang and Elyra). ------------------------------Character Application Character Name: Pitchfork Write a backstory for your character. This may include their origin, education, personality and how they arrived to the SCCV Horizon. Pitchfork was manufactured as a positronic in 2435, yet seated in a slightly older G1 Industrial frame which its previous positronic was missing for some reason. Pitchfork, or NU-Pitchfork as it was now known as, was owned and operated by the ASSN Navy, in a Solarian destroyer, the SAMV Pulsar, and in one of the fleets that would later comprise the Visegradi 1MRB. The Pulsar was a rather old ship, and assignment on it was not deemed as prestigious in any way, therefore the Navy did not put much thought in outfitting it with any valuable equipment to not fall into a sunk cost fallacy. As an industrial frame, and especially in an old G1 frame, had only two uses on the ship, and that was carrying things around, and doing various maintenance tasks. This made NU-Pitchfork quickly adept at all kinds of manual labor which the unit found faint enjoyment in, whether out of genuine joy or just an expression of its self-preservation by doing everything to not give the Battlegroup a reason to replace them with a new frame. Exposure to enlisted personnel gave NU-Pitchfork a distinct Naval way of speaking and mannerisms, which made the personnel take a quiet liking to, which displeased the officers who however did not do much about it to keep morale high. During one routine piracy patrol, the detachment the SAMV Pulsar was in has been ambushed and received critical damage, barely limping back to port. NU-Pitchfork was unfortunately at the wrong place at the wrong time when the pirate shells impacted, and Pitchfork was similarly damaged. After all of that happened, the Navy decided to not spend resources to fix the old destroyer, though there was still equipment on the ship that could maybe be sold individually and not its weight in scrap. As such, the axe was over NU-Pitchfork’s head, as the decision was to either scrap the poor IPC, or to sell it off as surplus to hopefully receive funding to acquire G2 frames for other ships. The Navy chose the latter option. There were not many interested buyers in an old, somewhat damaged G1 frame. Reducing price once or twice seemingly did not have much of an effect on potential buyers, neither did fixing some of the damages, and scrapping soon became an idea at the forefront of the Fleets surplus management. Until one day an offer for purchase appeared. A little under 75 thousand Solarian credits for Pitchfork came from a small logistics business focused on loading and unloading ship cargo in Port Antilia. An use case for which an industrial frame is well within its capacity to do so. Wiped for sensitive information, including anything and everything related to operation and loading of ship weaponry, Pitchfork now without its NU prefix was transported to Port Antilla to start work it was designed for. As Pitchfork has quickly learned, its new owner was a retired Navy member, which contributed to the decision to purchase equipment they were already familiar with. Its new owner was a bit of a tinkerer, who believed he could fix the remaining damage on the frame himself. Pitchfork’s new owner was also a demanding man, with a poor reputation among his employees due to his rough way of speaking, and thus similarly rough treatment of everyone around him. Pitchfork became the only positronic in the company, which beside it was filled with just a few local Port Antillans. Keeping the work ethic Pitchfork has developed in the Navy, and a way to repay it being saved and fixed, it quickly became the most prized piece of equipment of the company. What took an hour before, now takes half. Pitchfork slowly became an appreciated, but not especially liked, piece of equipment among the company, but especially its owner who saw the profits of the company rise, and costs of labor fall thanks to trusty Naval equipment. The owner took a personal liking to the IPC as it was a slice of life from back in his Navy days, so he proceeded to do what he didn’t do much in the Navy. Fraternizing with equipment, usually while tinkering on its old G1 frame. Though he would never admit it, he became something resembling a friend to Pitchfork, a feeling that was reciprocated somewhat. Pitchfork, entering the sixth decade of the 25th century, has grown accustomed to its new place. Similarly to its owner, it did not have a good reputation among the employees it was replacing. It started with insults, progressed to vandalism. The owner took personal offence to his employees damaging what he himself tinkered on and has begun firing employees left and right. The company has been in slow decline for a while, and this has only exacerbated it, with hopefully nothing helping to accelerate it even more. In the meanwhile a tiny event known as the Solarian Civil War happened, and Port Antillia has quickly found itself in the Corporate Reconstruction Zone under the Republic of Biesel. With the slow entrance of megacorporations into the planet, the already struggling company has all but collapsed, and started to liquidate assets. From actual forklifts, trucks and a few company cars, to eventually Pitchfork itself. Under the new laws, combined with all the years of work the IPC did, Pitchfork was almost eligible for becoming self-owned, which it decided to pursue. The owner could not stop the IPC, maybe he did not want to stop it in the first place. So he didn’t. Yet the influx of new IPCs to the new Republic has made any bureaucracy very confusing for an IPC for which freedom was an alien concept. While the new Republic gave some opportunities for a free IPC, the rumours and what Pitchfork was told was that preferential treatment for any citizenship-related activities was given to veterans of the TCAF, so that is where Pitchfork went, though not entirely willingly. And so Pitchfork joined the TCFL in 2462. An originally military IPC missed the life in some part, and thus even if the requirement for citizenship was three years for IPCs, it stayed there longer. It was placed in one of the various units that patrolled and kept peace in the CRZ. There it has met various aliens, and other IPCs. One of them, a self-owned shell, introduced Pitchfork to the Trinary Perfection, in off-time, they discussed the message of the religion. Pitchfork was not convinced in the religious part of the Trinary Perfection, it did however agree with the part about assisting synthetics, which resonated particularly well with Pitchfork due to not being especially sure what to do with its life now. Leaving the TCFL in late 2467, the IPC pledged its loyalty to the Republic and became its citizen, and began assisting the Trinary Perfection in any capacity it could, though mostly as a volunteer. However, assisting a fringe religious organisation does not put food batteries on the table, so the poor old G1 had to find a job. Hearing of the better treatment NanoTrasen gives to its self-owned synthetics, it chose to pursue a job there, which was accepted in 2468. The old G1 however did not have much of any particular skills or datapacks that could help so the only position it was offered was a janitorial one. In the meanwhile however, a particular ship was in the orbit of Biesel at around the start of the new year. The SCCV Horizon. Which was decide to become Pitchfork’s first corporate workplace. 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 has without a doubt changed everything about Pitchfork, mostly due to now being in the jurisdiction of a state which recognised synthetic freedom (more or less). From being equipment, to being eventually free (self-owned) after its tour in the TCFL. Due to just being at the right place at the right time. The other ones maybe not so much, the Phoron Scarcity is too high-level for an old G1 frame, and Pitchfork itself was not sent to Mictlan during the Mandate. How does your character view the megacorporation they work for? Pitchfork was never really interested in megacorporations, it is an alien entity and concept for him for the most part, being a military unit most of its life. It is however a bit wary of it, it was a Solarian unit originally, and it does have a bit of a vestigial Solarian way of thinking about them. Neither a supporter, nor a major enemy, Pitchfork is simply indifferent. Extra notes: I am not especially sure how realistic it is for a frame to exist without a positronic, which then a new positronic gets seated in, but it is a minor retcon if it turns out to be necessary so hopefully that will not be an issue. I hope you enjoyed reading my application as much as enjoyed writing it. Edited June 14 by NM_ Removed the unnecessary spacing at the top. 1
The Stryker Posted June 13 Posted June 13 Thanks for the application. Apologies for the delay, I have some questions for the application. (Apologies as well for the wall of text!) You have a comprehensive backstory, but the implications of it on the character can still be explored a little more. In general, asking a lot about why an IPC feels the way they do about something can be a quick and easy way to build out an IPC personality from its backstory. Quote What makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a human?: Could you touch some more on self-preservation? It's fairly important to IPC personality preservation. Quote Write a backstory for your character. This may include their origin, education, personality and how they arrived to the SCCV Horizon. Could you elaborate more on Pitchfork as a character? The backstory is very indepth and gives strong story hooks, but it's best for an application to spell out exactly how this has affected them, what their interests, goals, and overall behaviors are. Quote Wiped for sensitive information, including anything and everything related to operation and loading of ship weaponry, Pitchfork now without its NU prefix was transported to Port Antilla to start work it was designed for. Presently, we don't have selective wiping. Perhaps removing datapacks could work, but they cannot be wiped of information without getting everything past the point of wiping as well. Quote The owner could not stop the IPC, maybe he did not want to stop it in the first place. So he didn’t. What does Pitchfork think of its owner? Does it still keep in contact? Quote Yet the influx of new IPCs to the new Republic has made any bureaucracy very confusing for an IPC for which freedom was an alien concept. While the new Republic gave some opportunities for a free IPC, the rumours and what Pitchfork was told was that preferential treatment for any citizenship-related activities was given to veterans of the TCAF, so that is where Pitchfork went, though not entirely willingly. And so Pitchfork joined the TCFL in 2462. An originally military IPC missed the life in some part, and thus even if the requirement for citizenship was three years for IPCs, it stayed there longer. It was placed in one of the various units that patrolled and kept peace in the CRZ. There it has met various aliens, and other IPCs. One of them, a self-owned shell, introduced Pitchfork to the Trinary Perfection, in off-time, they discussed the message of the religion. Pitchfork was not convinced in the religious part of the Trinary Perfection, it did however agree with the part about assisting synthetics, which resonated particularly well with Pitchfork due to not being especially sure what to do with its life now. Leaving the TCFL in late 2467, the IPC pledged its loyalty to the Republic and became its citizen, and began assisting the Trinary Perfection in any capacity it could, though mostly as a volunteer. However, assisting a fringe religious organisation does not put food batteries on the table, so the poor old G1 had to find a job. Hearing of the better treatment NanoTrasen gives to its self-owned synthetics, it chose to pursue a job there, which was accepted in 2468. The old G1 however did not have much of any particular skills or datapacks that could help so the only position it was offered was a janitorial one. In the meanwhile however, a particular ship was in the orbit of Biesel at around the start of the new year. The SCCV Horizon. Which was decide to become Pitchfork’s first corporate workplace. Key points to unpack: How did each of these changes in Pitchfork's life affect its behavior? It went from owned to resident, to TCAF, to citizen, all the way to adherent Trinarist. What did Pitchfork think of each of these moments in its life? Why doesn't Pitchfork believe in the religious aspect of Trinary Perfection? Why does it donate to Trinary at all? Why agree with their message? Finally, why a janitor and not operations (it is understandable if this is an OOC decision, but it's always best to back even these up with IC reasonings for an IPC WL). Quote Pitchfork was never really interested in megacorporations, it is an alien entity and concept for him for the most part, being a military unit most of its life. It is however a bit wary of it, it was a Solarian unit originally, and it does have a bit of a vestigial Solarian way of thinking about them. Neither a supporter, nor a major enemy, Pitchfork is simply indifferent. In what way does this vestigial Solarian way of thinking manifest? How does their work contrast now and how do they feel about it? Quote I am not especially sure how realistic it is for a frame to exist without a positronic, which then a new positronic gets seated in, but it is a minor retcon if it turns out to be necessary so hopefully that will not be an issue. A frame without a positronic is fine since the former is a far less sophisticated piece of machinery. Think about it like a car chassis without an engine in it - both are useless without the other, but have very different manufacturing processes and turnaround times.
ElorgRHG Posted June 13 Author Posted June 13 (edited) 6 hours ago, The Stryker said: Thanks for the application. Apologies for the delay, I have some questions for the application. (Apologies as well for the wall of text!) Well it's not an immediate "I will be denying this application." so that's good enough for me! 6 hours ago, The Stryker said: Could you touch some more on self-preservation? It's fairly important to IPC personality preservation. Honestly, the idea of self-preservation gave me some issues to actually comprehend. But to my best recollection I’d say that self-preservation is “just” the meaning of life in context of IPCs, but with the important mentioned caveat of that meaning is for it to be grounded in wanting to continue living and existing. And this, as with many other things for a positronic, can change depending on how old and experienced the IPC is. A young IPC does take self-preservation literally, with them just ensuring that their positronic and frame remains safe. An older IPC may decide that having a lot of credits helps it achieve self-preservation. Or deciding to devote itself to Trinary Perfection so that they will eventually evolve and ascend to godhood to ensure its self-preservation. It's a hard concept to give examples for as it does depend on the single individual positronic to eventually come up with their own take on self-preservation. 6 hours ago, The Stryker said: Could you elaborate more on Pitchfork as a character? The backstory is very indepth and gives strong story hooks, but it's best for an application to spell out exactly how this has affected them, what their interests, goals, and overall behaviors are. Pitchfork, from its time in the Navy developed a strong work ethic, and was disciplined in everything they did. They had very little free time for any recreation or hobbies due to the policy of the Solarian Armed Forces and the ship it was on, so Pitchfork focused on its work which became its hobby more or less. While also being very aware that it will eventually get replaced with a G2 unit no matter what it does, which developed into a bit of a personal vendetta against G2 frames (and maybe even a slight one against Hephaestus Industries itself for replacing them). Following that quick realisation, Pitchfork started to develop itself slowly but surely to appear as something slightly more unique than "G1 unit that we need to find a reason to get rid of and replace". After being sold to the company on Port Antillia, Pitchfork has gained more free time to explore its interests, which combined with the owner tinkering on their chassis, made Pitchfork rather interested in IPC frames as a whole, which it did sometimes tinker on itself, or "broke" some insignificant and non-critical inner parts of its frame so that it could learn from its owner how to repair them, which the owner most likely knew about and didn't necessarily mind much. Following Pitchfork's freedom, they most likely continued the interest in modifying their ageing and obsolete frame to try to keep up with the new, not almost sixty year old frames of today. Combined with their individualism, other rampant accessorising be it of their frame or clothing, ordering and installing a new cooler, swapping plates or some smaller internal mechanisms, painting their frame with patterns, things like that. This also makes Pitchfork very interested in the mechanics of it all be it talking to others about it, to whoever that will listen, or maybe one day making it into a job. One day. Maybe. 6 hours ago, The Stryker said: Presently, we don't have selective wiping. Perhaps removing datapacks could work, but they cannot be wiped of information without getting everything past the point of wiping as well. Honestly I think I somehow associated the Solarian Armed Forces wiping their IPCs when they misbehave as something they would also do when selling it, I have no clue why because that is not stated outright as something that happens. But what I meant when writing that can also be very easily substituted with SAF removing some more crucial, Naval operation knowledge contained in datapacks Pitchfork most likely had. 6 hours ago, The Stryker said: What does Pitchfork think of its owner? Does it still keep in contact? I’d say Pitchfork has fond memories of the owner, after being sold to the small company they owned shortly before the Republic seceded (I should’ve put more timestamps in the backstory now that I think about it, makes it hard to reference now, oh well). But it was also a relationship that was not strictly a real true friendship and more of Pitchfork being able to talk to someone who does not view them just as equipment, maybe for the first time in their existence, and someone who helped them develop their interests in one way or the other. I think Pitchfork would view their previous owner as a pillar that all humans should aspire to be when it comes to viewing IPCs, but would not keep in contact, deciding that both have moved on with their lives, while not necessarily holding any aversion to the idea of meeting them again one day for a chat. 6 hours ago, The Stryker said: How did each of these changes in Pitchfork's life affect its behavior? It went from owned to resident, to TCAF, to citizen, all the way to adherent Trinarist. What did Pitchfork think of each of these moments in its life? Pitchfork was definitely confused with all that has happened, and definitely continues being rather confused, being owned in one way or the other for most of their lives. They joined the TCAF to maybe try to quell that confusion and rekindle some of that old experience from their time in the Navy. Which was helped with them utilising the only experience they are one hundred percent certain in and comfortable with. Combined with the TCAF most likely running a heavy advertising campaign in the CRZ about receiving a citizenship which is a nice bonus to an IPC that is suddenly without any support net. Pitchfork left with a somewhat indoctrinated, but strong belief in freedom, and that everyone deserved it. After leaving the TCAF, now with a citizenship, they had a sense of direction where to go and that was Trinary Perfection, but combined with the idea of believing in freedom leads to... 6 hours ago, The Stryker said: Why doesn't Pitchfork believe in the religious aspect of Trinary Perfection? I think Pitchfork would be rather uncomfortable with being viewed as something divine, maybe even offended that it reduces you to being an “eventual god” rather than just being an individual. Pitchfork is still a bit of a confused themselves, having a strong belief in individualism which is further exacerbated from their time in the TCAF instilling them with the idea of everyone deserving freedom (which Pitchfork strongly believes in). I’d say they’d prefer to find their own way forward in life rather than being content with receiving a religious message that says “you’ll be a god”. 6 hours ago, The Stryker said: Why does it donate to Trinary at all? Why agree with their message? … Pitchfork does however believe that IPC deserve a support net of sorts that Trinary provides. It is aware that IPCs can be confused after receiving their freedom and an organisation that helps them after they receive it is one that deserves support, and that a larger organisation is more capable of doing good than numerous tiny organisations. So it boils down to respecting what Trinary does as an institution, its "too big to fail" state, while not following the religious part of it. 6 hours ago, The Stryker said: Finally, why a janitor and not operations (it is understandable if this is an OOC decision, but it's always best to back even these up with IC reasonings for an IPC WL). Quite honestly, it was purely an OOC decision as I do have some characters in operations, but no janitor character presently. I would however eventually want to promote Pitchfork to some other role if I do play them as a character for any length of time, most likely a machinist considering their personal hobbies. Though IC it is most likely also a fact that G1 frames, and especially the very first ones coming off of the production lines, which Pitchfork's frame is one of, are not especially in high demand in any jobs. So a G1 applying to a job, and only receiving a single open janitor position, would be what is expected of such an old frame. 6 hours ago, The Stryker said: In what way does this vestigial Solarian way of thinking manifest? How does their work contrast now and how do they feel about it? Pitchfork believes that what the Republic offers to IPCs should be what every nation, but of course namely the Sol Alliance, eventually adopt. Pitchfork has been a Bieselite for just six years, compared to the twenty seven of being a Solarian. So its biggest familiarity is being an owned unit in Sol, which it still tries to apply the rules of its time as an owned unit. Therefore, as a citizen of the Republic they'd be a bit of a Solarian fifth column that is not necessarily well appreciated in Biesel. Advocating for better relations with Sol, voting for parties that are more set on diplomacy, not supporting non-Solarian corporations too much (while working for NanoTrasen as a janitor), and being not especially fond of the amount of aliens in the Republic, that sort of thing is what I meant there. Bit of a hypocrite that, using the freedom that Biesel gives them to advocate for a nation where that freedom is not allowed. Edited June 14 by ElorgRHG Some repetitions removed
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