Borya's Lore Master Application

[Borya]

Ckey / Discord Username: BoryaTheslayer / lostrozen

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

Past Experiences and Knowledge: I have been the Human Lore Maintainer before, in 2019-2020. Here is the link to my app back then: 

Examples of Past Work, if any: Aurora-related work is listed above. Also, since then, I have brainstormed KOTW alongside Kyres, an arc which the entire team worked on. Helped Schwann write many of our planets added post-2019. I, sadly, do not have other work that I have done since then outside Aurora, given that I lost my google account recently as you may well know(oops).

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1) Describe your thoughts about the Anabasis project as a whole, whether they be negative or positive.

Anabasis Project is, undoubtedly, one of the primary reasons for why I have been excited for Aurora again. SS13 is a strange, limited kind of medium, but we are all here playing spacemen and writing lore for our little setting. Anabasis is going to help us bring the gameplay part of the game up to par, but it will provide us with fascinating writing opportunities, just as well.

Our current experience with NBT in the form of the SCCV Horizon has shown that people enjoy the away missions as something to break the usual monotony of the gameplay. The need to maintain supplies during the current arc as the Horizon journeys into the Lemurian Sea has made it an ACTUAL necessity to salvage and I think that this kind of thing makes it incredibly fun to actually, you know, play being on a ship gameplay-wise, and roleplay as well. Imagine all the tension and stress that comes when the ship is low on supply, and people worry about whether they'll even get to eat the next day - followed by the relief when a mission is successful, providing the much-needed supplies. It's an easy loop to get hooked into, and the greatest thing is that it won't get old easily so long as we continue to provide context to these situations, whether through events, or the actions of the characters themselves.
 

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2) What is your plan regarding Anabasis as a Lore Master? What sort of focus would you bring to the table?

I would like to help everyone prepare all the moving pieces of the setting to be translated into the timeskip (I understand that everyone's already been hard at work in this department, but still!) and ensure that when the Blood Diamond finally sets off, it will set off into a journey with the writing material prepared to create diverse, exciting scenarios for it to undertake in its missions as we experience that new gameplay loop. I would very much like to help with the various contracts that the Blood Diamond might be able to undertake, and what enemies OR allies they might make as they navigate the fragmented Spur. It will be important to integrate these moving pieces not just as possible backgrounds for characters, but places, systems, institutions that will affect their journey.

As I address in the next question, our setting is GIGANTIC. There are a lot of parts of the Spur that have not received much writing in a while, and I hope to make sure that as much as possible gets a facelift to be ready to be transported to post-2IW hell.

I think another thing we need to acknowledge as we move forward to the next chapter of Aurora is the fact that our event arcs bring a load of traction and make the server much more lively than otherwise. I understand that Anabasis plans to tackle gameplay and make it actually interesting without events, but I think that doesn't mean we should forget about the absolutely amazing stories these events generate. I mean, we only have to look at Fyni's current arc and how amazing it has been. Previous event arcs have had amazing reception, as well, and KOTW still stands out in the memories of those who have experienced it - and it has been 6 whole years since!!! KOTW was the work of the entire Lore Team at the time and it showed AMAZING results, and I like to think that it set the trend for the following arcs.

 

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3) What do you think the current setting lacks? What are its biggest flaws?

The Orion Spur as written is so, so colourful, diverse... unfortunately, this also means it is a gigantic workload to maintain, and the Lore team is set up in such a departmental way that some areas handled by 3 guys (sometimes even less) actually comprise a significant amount of space in the Spur and as such may lack developments for years. Human Lore is the biggest victim of this, as is often discussed, even though I do believe that since 2020, the human lore team has done a LOT of stepping up and have made a lot of pieces that we previously would almost never touch much more compelling and it warms my heart that a lot of the foundation that we set with my team at the time with our many rewrites has done what it was supposed to do - make it easier for others to work with the material.

I think another part of our lore that is the victim of this is Skrell Lore. I would enjoy helping the skrell team tackle their challenges, too, as I recently saw some of the deputies discussing some parts of it that they've been meaning to change.

Ultimately, the problem of having so much to write also translates into having a lot to read. A lot of this can be rather daunting to a new player. Even back in 2020, I always tried to aim to be laconic in my writing - a lot of my work also used to be editorial, and there are plenty of times where you have to say "no" to your team when they get a little bit carried away. There are ways to cover for this lack of depth that sometimes laconic writing creates, and this does not mean we should never write any details ever. That being said, this does not imply each planet should have one paragraph dedicated to it, either. There is a careful balance that needs to be struck between word count and actual substance. This is a very, very difficult thing to do, and something I hope to make easier to tackle for the team with my input.
 

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4) Do you lean towards a space opera writing style regarding the events and the setting, or towards a hard-scifi style? Why?

I do believe myself to be more inclined towards space opera - and that is what I love about Anabasis, in fact. As a mercenary crew tackling the dangers of the post-2IW galaxy, there will be SO much potential for them to tackle these big challenges and make for an exciting journey filled with moments where characters can shine individually. Ultimately, space opera IS about characters, and as a roleplay environment, I think it is a good format to operate under. If anything, we already are a space opera in a lot of aspects. To look at comparisons, there are some very obvious ones. Star Wars is a flawed IP, but one I deeply, deeply love. Though there is no way to make Aurora like Star Wars (neither do I really think we should, obviously), but it is always good to look at greater examples of works in a similar genre and think of the reasons why those narratives are compelling. In that sense, I think we have made the setting of Aurora into something where we can imagine a lot of adventures, a lot of moving pieces of massive scale, but smaller scale just as well.
 

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5) What are your strengths and weaknesses when it comes to being in a management position?

In the past, when I was human lore maintainer, my work primarily consisted of being an editor for my deputies and giving them ideas and/or directions, as well as working as a link for the rest of the lore teams so that we could collaborate and work on touching points in lore. I think a lot of our species have some wonderful themes and I enjoy helping with writing for them, even though my focus in the past has been solely on human lore (though, even back then I would frequently work with loremasters and other teams to, for example, write some of the space fauna that you see floating by the Horizon nowadays). I like to help others and uplift their work, and I want to be the kind of loremaster that the team will not hesitate to reach out to for advice and input.

I have a lot of hobbies and a life outside Aurora, and do get distracted sometimes. That being said, I really am looking forward to working on the lore again, because Anabasis is kind of the thing that addressed a lot of my gripes about the fundamentals of our setting back when I was on the lore team in 2019-2020. I can be headstrong about doing things the way I want, but with Anabasis, I think that'll be a smaller concern this time. I hope that other people around me - and there are a lot of people I call friends in the Aurora community - can help keep my head in the game, this time.

[Shimmer]

Don't you go on thinking that I DARED to forget to ask a couple of questions to you as well! It's only fair and I wish you the best of luck on this application. I'd do some bit about both of us being Russian but I think a bit about me doing a bit was funnier.

 

Good luck Borya! Now to the questions...

 

On 07/08/2026 at 04:36, Borya said:

Anabasis Project is, undoubtedly, one of the primary reasons for why I have been excited for Aurora again. SS13 is a strange, limited kind of medium, but we are all here playing spacemen and writing lore for our little setting. Anabasis is going to help us bring the gameplay part of the game up to par, but it will provide us with fascinating writing opportunities, just as well.

What sort of writing opportunities can you think of that Anabasis will provide you? Is there a particular direction you would like to see Anabasis go in terms of themes, events, narratives?

As with the two previous question posts I made I'll again emphasise that I'm asking within reason and only insofar as what is allowed to be said, obviously.

 

On 07/08/2026 at 04:36, Borya said:

As I address in the next question, our setting is GIGANTIC. There are a lot of parts of the Spur that have not received much writing in a while, and I hope to make sure that as much as possible gets a facelift to be ready to be transported to post-2IW hell.

How do you intend to address this? Do you think that all of our settings origins, factions, and the established lore can be brought into Anabasis? Or are there certain elements you don't believe contribute enough to warrant the effort and time that could be spent elsewhere?

 

On 07/08/2026 at 04:36, Borya said:

I think another thing we need to acknowledge as we move forward to the next chapter of Aurora is the fact that our event arcs bring a load of traction and make the server much more lively than otherwise.

What do you envision the future of event arcs of all kinds of sizes? I understand that you feel like they're currently a big highlight for the server, does that mean you intend to organise more of them? Open up more opportunities for events, like player designed events? How do you intend to achieve your vision?

 

On 07/08/2026 at 04:36, Borya said:

The Orion Spur as written is so, so colourful, diverse... unfortunately, this also means it is a gigantic workload to maintain, and the Lore team is set up in such a departmental way that some areas handled by 3 guys (sometimes even less) actually comprise a significant amount of space in the Spur and as such may lack developments for years. Human Lore is the biggest victim of this, as is often discussed

This relates to a question I asked both Fyni and Sammy, and I'm happy to see it's addressed but I am still curious to what capacity we agree. Do you also believe that as a result of this workload and setting imbalance there is also an importance imbalance between the various lore spheres of the server? To clarify what I mean - I mean it in terms of significance of human-led factions, nations, spheres of influence on the wider spur when compared to other factions.

If so, do you have a plan to address it? And what are your plans to address the workload issue?

 

On 07/08/2026 at 04:36, Borya said:

Ultimately, the problem of having so much to write also translates into having a lot to read. A lot of this can be rather daunting to a new player.

What are your plans to address this? Especially when it comes to already existing writing?

 

 

[MattAtlas]

I have some questions to ask you, but please answer Shimmer's first, @Borya.

[Borya]

Hello my fellow russian ShimmerIsTaken and my favourite administrator Matthew Atlas.

 

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What sort of writing opportunities can you think of that Anabasis will provide you? Is there a particular direction you would like to see Anabasis go in terms of themes, events, narratives?

It's very hard to speak about direction at this point, especially for someone who hasn't been in the team and has not yet seen what the team has cooked up so far, but generally speaking, I simply believe that moving away from the corporate theme presents us opportunities for the crew to employ broader range of solutions that we would previously balk at as unreasonable OOCly for a megacorporation to employ(f. ex. people instantly going back on the attempt to work with Azarak in the Lemurian Sea arc because it's obviously the cleaner, more corporate option to maintain good relations with the powers that be rather than gamble them away). It also just gives players more freedom, even though there will still have to be some kind of hiring standard on the Blood Diamond. All in all, it gives us the option to give power to the players to decide what direction they want to take, but also the staff team at large will still have power to steer the narrative also if need be, through determining the content of the contracts. All in all, it just casts a wider net and gives both the players and the staff a lot of freedom to explore our setting from angles we haven't had much opportunity to examine before.

 

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How do you intend to address this? Do you think that all of our settings origins, factions, and the established lore can be brought into Anabasis? Or are there certain elements you don't believe contribute enough to warrant the effort and time that could be spent elsewhere?

I, personally, do not think of anything I'd like to retcon outright, especially not without consulting the relevant teams first. I imagine everyone has been super hard at work and I would not want to make any pre-emptive decisions and spit on what work has already been done. However, what I have employed in the past and seen other teams do, is that IC solutions can oftentimes be much more palatable; such as the canonical dissolution of ATLAS and the rebranding of Necropolis into Zavodskoi. Should there be elements that are truly not worth bringing along into Anabasis, then the timeskip presents us a super clean and easy opportunity to change the board as we see fit when it comes to the powers of the Spur. Though that in of itself may also take time that could be spent writing something else, I simply can not, at this stage, say that something deserves to be retconned that wouldn't just be my personal dislike of one element of the setting or another.
 

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What do you envision the future of event arcs of all kinds of sizes? I understand that you feel like they're currently a big highlight for the server, does that mean you intend to organise more of them? Open up more opportunities for events, like player designed events? How do you intend to achieve your vision?

There is a time and a place for everything. Too many events would bring in oversaturation and exhaustion. From my perspective, the Lemurian Sea arc was a little too drawn out and could've perhaps served to be a couple events shorter - and from what I understood, it had to even be cut a little short in the finale because of time constraints. More than anything, I would like to help facilitate what existing teams have been cooking up, though I would love to try to fill out the blanks in cases of event draught. All in all, I don't think that events have to be our be-all and end-all, but they are most certainly the defining feature of Aurora.

I have not been in the seat of an event organizer for over 6 years now, so it's hard for me to really tell you much about what I'd do to facilitate running events without having touched what we have developed since then. I think the creation of the odyssey has been a step in the right direction, without a doubt - and I'd love to talk to the lore team and the coders to see if we can introduce more tools. As well as involve willing admins, of course. 

Player-designed events, while on paper, sound really good and promote creativity, invite a potential lack of cohesion and, once again, oversaturation. Although I always have and will continue to encourage players to reach out to writers (within reason) or write lore canonization apps if they want to contribute even if they are not on the team.
 

On 11/08/2026 at 01:07, Shimmer said:

Do you also believe that as a result of this workload and setting imbalance there is also an importance imbalance between the various lore spheres of the server? To clarify what I mean - I mean it in terms of significance of human-led factions, nations, spheres of influence on the wider spur when compared to other factions.

If so, do you have a plan to address it? And what are your plans to address the workload issue?

It's a bit of a misnomer to consider that the workload between teams translates into the details of the setting itself. It has been written and defined that humanity has dominated the Spur for a long long time before any of the current lore members were on the team, even long before I was on the team way back then. The Skrell have always been written to be the ancient power that has focused inwards with fascinating technology that they limit access to, and so on. While I think the easiest solution would be to just increase the amount of members on the team, I understand that head staff might think otherwise, and it does not necessarily always solve all issues - especially when it comes to cohesive decision-making on an already big team of what is, essentially, a bunch of volunteers. The creation of the megacorp team was necessary, but I am unsure if creating more departments would be any help - if anyone could even come up with another team in the first place.

I think that both the loremaster and the deputy loremaster should help out where needed, obviously - but beyond that, when it comes to teams with a large sphere of influence, such as humanity, I think one interesting solution may be to use polls for the community to decide on what directions they would be more interested in for a lore development in the works. For example, if I were to decide that Eridani needs work and the human lore team has no immediate solutions on hand, it would be fair to inquire with the playerbase and draw ideas that way to inspire the writing to follow.

 

On 11/08/2026 at 01:07, Shimmer said:

What are your plans to address this? Especially when it comes to already existing writing?

I believe that Fyni has similarly expressed a desire to improve and renovate the new player guide. It's fairly difficult to say to someone that their writing is redundant and that we need to cut it down - and it is not even always true that it is redundant. I enjoy acting as an editor for my fellow writers, and will try to do that again should I be chosen for loremaster, and in that capacity there is a lot of potential for trimming down the fat so to speak. Naturally, already existing pages could use a re-examination, too. Furthermore, I think that potentially looking over the pages and improving the summaries that are written in the first paragraph might also help out a lot.



All in all, I hope that some of my answers do not come out as too vague; I immensely enjoy working in a team and more than anything I would like to make other writers on the team feel respected for their time. This, in itself, is an important key to maintaining the work processes; an unhappy team will hardly make any progress! In that sense, inasmuch as I will be in the position to decide over-all direction as a loremaster, I also want to make sure to help out my team with their respective projects where I can.