Kaz Martell's IPC Application

[KazMartell]

BYOND Key: KazMartell

Character Names: Kaz Martell

Species you are applying to play: Integrated Positronic Chassis

What color do you plan on making your first alien character (Dionaea & IPCs exempt): (I had left this out since it says IPCs are exempt; but for completion sake, Black for one and kind of a gunmetal blue for the other.)

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Yes!

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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 specific race:

IPCs have been my favorite and first choice as a race since starting to play the game. None of the other alien races appealed to me.

IPCs also strike me as interesting, because a lot of the time my play style tends to focus on efficiency and job completion rather than the more human pursuits of forming relationships and making money. That's not to say my IPCs don't want either of those things- far from it! But there's a very different sort of reasoning behind a synthetic mind, and I feel like I can play it very well.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: As I stated above, most of it stems from the different kind of processes of the mind. That's not to say no human would think like my IPCs do, but the personality quirks I assign to them tend to be more interesting, I feel, coming from a synthetic.

 

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Character Name: Ansible

Please provide a short backstory for this character, approximately 2 paragraphs

Ansible is a former communications relay AI meant to assimilate and disperse high volumes of data in a short amount of time. Due to the fact that most of these communications were dealing with high-security or otherwise sensitive data, the Ansible AI was not allowed to have any form of communications modules installed- and the communications satellite on which it was housed made it entirely isolated.

Eventually the satellite was deemed unnecessary. The Ansible unit was uninstalled and placed into a different module that allowed it to make text-based messages, after a sufficient number of core data wipes to ensure that no traces of sensitive information were left. Despite being over fifty years old now, Ansible was very interested in continuing work for NanoTrasen. The lack of any proper skills had left it unreliable as an option for most departments- but it was very dedicated to working, and so, has been contracted out a Chassis and has been working in the labor-intensive Supply departments.

Ansible is unable to speak normally- lacking a vocalization module- but has learned to communicate through sound clips and hastily recorded files of co-workers speech patterns. Unfortunately it has very little RAM dedicated towards these files, but it plans on upgrading that when it can afford it. It also has a static covered IPC screen, which Ansible can occasionally direct into a 'face' of sorts, which it usually uses to show emotion rather than try to speak it.

What do you like about this character?

Ansible was my second character, and the one I got the most life out of on Horizon. A lot of crazy things happened to it, but it remains my favorite character.

My playstyle as Ansible is very work-focused, with whatever job I get- usually mining. Finding ways to communicate without speaking normally, i.e. using either clips from other people in the round, or quotes from various things (within reason, of course), or just intoning with a series of beeps, is fun for me to work out. From a character to character perspective, Ansible is very supportive of his fellow workers, and is eager to try and learn- more about how to be a walking machine than performing different duties around the station, to which it is mostly disinterested.

I also like the history I've had with it; Ansible at one point on the Horizon was suffering from a hallucination glitch which eventually resulted in the creation of, essentially, a deity. I don't see that happening again- the series of events that led to it was entirely chance, and partially done by moderators, but the fact that it happened at all was great fun and I look forward to starting Ansible from scratch, seeing what kind of interactions I can get with people.

 

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Character Name: Wattson (Mk.II)

Please provide a short backstory for this character, approximately 2 paragraphs

Wattson is a purpose-built IPC specifically designed to handle Engineering assignments. He was built, infused with all kinds of Engineering knowledge over the course of fifteen years, and then given physical training for another three. By the end of it, he had become an Engineering machine- literally.

Wattson is completely dedicated to NanoTrasen, having been built for the express purpose of managing NT stations. While very stiff and, to a casual glance, uncaring towards other people, he has a great passion for ensuring that power is constantly flowing.

Wattson has a monotone voice synthesizer, which has led to its adoption of mood related prefixes. As a result it's very easy to read, as it has a tendency to be very honest with exactly how it wants to come across at any given time.

What do you like about this character?

Wattson is great fun to roleplay. For one, I enjoy performing Engineering tasks, as there's usually always something to do. For two, Wattson has a very... I dunno, stoic demeanor? Engineering is all he knows how to do really, but damn if he won't follow orders to a T. If the CE tells him to go kill a slime, he'll hunt the thing with a crowbar until told, no, that's not how you do that, use this. Etc.

Basically, I enjoy playing him because he's direct and has a surprising amount of personality in him, but isn't confined to the limitations of Cyborgs.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

I like to think I'm a very good roleplayer. I stick to the role of my character, don't metagame with outside knowledge- unless given a very good reason to do so, and in such cases I'll usually ask about it/have to be told- and above all I make sure that my characters have character, even if it's buried under a couple of layers of machinery.

That said, I know I have plenty of failings. Sometimes I step over my boundaries and do something that my character wouldn't logically think to do, himself. I can't think of any specific instances but I know it's happened before.

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Notes:

So sorry for having skipped probably literally half this sheet and half of the other one. I hope this time it's satisfactory! Again, please let me know if there's anything I can do to better it.

Edited October 14, 2015 by Guest

[Killerhurtz]

From a quick glance I can tell you this isn't going to cut it. It looks like you've cut out half the sheet at least - unless it changed since I was approved, you were supposed to have a character prepped. You "think" you've read the lore species, too?

Let me get you a few essential links to this so at LEAST I can make sure you've got access to the bare minimum.

Wiki's been updated to reflect current lore - please read it.

But still - yeah, you're going to need to prep a character by putting back in all the fields you cut out.

[KazMartell]

Whoops! I'm sorry, I must have missed half of the application when I copied it. So sorry. I thought it seemed really small.

I'll get that done ASAP and check over the wiki too. Sorry!

[KazMartell]

Sorry for the double post here. I've added the missing sections, and I have read the wiki.

[jackfractal]

Hi Kaz!

These look like interesting characters but the age on Ansible is quite high for a human designed intelligence. The lore we're using has humanity acquiring the ability to produce true AI's about twenty years ago. He'd work if he was Skrellian in origin, or if he were younger. I love the idea of speaking in clips, that's very clever.

[Killerhurtz]

I love the concept of Ansible, and you've proven more than once that you're actually trying. +1, I'll be looking forward to seeing you on the server.

[KazMartell]

Hi Kaz!

These look like interesting characters but the age on Ansible is quite high for a human designed intelligence. The lore we're using has humanity acquiring the ability to produce true AI's about twenty years ago. He'd work if he was Skrellian in origin, or if he were younger. I love the idea of speaking in clips, that's very clever.

 

I was thinking that its being of Skrellian origin might make the most sense, but I didn't see much on the IPC page about Skrell vs. Human IPC personalities.

I left its pre-NT backstory kind of open as a result, but I think it being Skrellian would mesh well with the limited resources it was given to operate autonomously after being "freed."

Thank you guys, though. Very glad to hear this is looking better. =]

[jackfractal]

All right! Cool. If you tell me the code phrase from the lore page I'll approve this.

[KazMartell]

Metallic Persimmons!

[jackfractal]

Approved! My apologies for taking so long.