EvilBrage's Eventual Head Whitelist Application

[EvilBrage]

BYOND key: EvilBrage

Character names: Jaylor Rameau, Samuel Avalon, Seamus Vidic, Vong Si Hung, Declan McGrath

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How long have you been playing on Aurora?: My best guess is 4-6 months; I can't narrow it down much more than that.

Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: Because admins keep bugging me about it asking why I'm not on it. Well, okay, I also think I could make a pretty good captain.

Why did you come to Aurora?: Because Apollo was kind of lame. That, and there's an exponentially higher timeframe in which I can flesh out a particular character idea before shit starts to hit the fan.

Have you read the BS12 wiki on the head roles you plan on playing?: I read the tongue-in-cheek flavor text on the wiki pages, if that counts. I've mostly picked up my knowledge in-game rather than sorting through a wiki.

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Please provide well articulated and argumented answers to the following questions in a paragraph each.

Give a definition of what you think roleplay is, and should be about: Roleplay is simply that - playing a role. You start with an interesting concept and eventually build up details around it like you'd build a lego house, and before you know it, you've got a character with strengths, weaknesses, quirks, and a connection (or intentional lack thereof) to the audience - the other players around you - who are also doing the exact same thing, and when it all comes together, it's one giant story. It is similar to Broadway, Hollywood, etc. in that you are essentially an actor in a specific role for the entertainment of yourself and others. Roleplaying should be about collectively progressing that large, convoluted story in a manner that's entertaining.

What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?: To be a shitlord. To direct not only the departments, but to inspire events and action. Sure, a captain could wander around like an assistant with all-access, but it's much more gratifying (imho) to sit behind a desk or pace back and forth around the bridge, barking out orders and inspiring revolution others to jump in on an event or two. In essence, the heads of staff have the power to make things happen, and anyone with a lick of literary knowledge knows that conflict is what drives any story and makes it interesting to read.

What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: To maintain a certain level of competence and courtesy. Once someone is accepted, they're essentially a statement from the server's leadership: "If you do this, you will be accepted onto the whitelist." Chucklefucking is a good way to make everyone look silly and go from the whitelist to the blacklist.

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Please pick one of your characters for this section, and provide well articulated responses to the following questions.

Character name: Jaylor Rameau

Character age: 32

Please provide a short biography of this character (approx 2 paragraphs): Living outside the boundary of civilized space tends to give one an increased appreciation for the simple things in life. Born into poverty on the backwater Tripoli Shipyard in the middle of a forsaken star system known as Sigma-17, Jaylor was bright enough to have made something better of himself had his circumstances been more fortunate. It was not to be, however, and by age fourteen, a young Jaylor left behind a broken home and joined a gang of salvagers and pirates known as the Junkers. Despite harsh living in the years following, it was during his time with the Junkers that Jaylor really came into his own under the tutelage of an old, miserly pilot by the name of Lyle Grant. A former navy fighter pilot, Grant was able to teach young Jaylor the skills he needed to quickly and effectively maneuver the ships he'd always dreamed of flying during his childhood of repairing them at Tripoli. He was a quick student, and after six years with his mentor, Rameau was a fierce pilot in his own right - he was at home in the nebula that blinded many others. The Junkers were a new family to Rameau and offered him their knowledge in exchange for his enthusiasm, and after the group had salvaged a strange old wreck rife with new technology, generous food stores, and tons of scrap metal, things looked like they weren't going to be so bad.

However, Jaylor's is not a joyful tale, and had any of those Junkers taken notice of the foreboding text reading 'Rheinland Military' on the side of the vessel, they would have known it was better to avoid it in the first place. Rheinland is one of the four Houses of the Sirius Sector in which Sigma-17 lay, albeit in one of the oft-avoided corners due to its high nebula density and frequent piracy troubles; when the Rheinland Military had finally returned to the site of the crash, Rameau and Grant were among the junkers present at the scene. There was no hail and no insistence on surrender; a scant minute had passed after Grant was able to communicate to the others that a large Rheinland pursuit wing was inbound that they opened fire, destroying two of the four ships outright. Try as he might, fighting against six of Rheinland's state-of-the-industry Valkyrie fighters was too much for Jaylor's much slower cargo vessel. Predictably, the Rheinland pursuers merely disabled the cargo vessel; the last words that ever came in over its radio were the words of Lyle Grant.

"What's that sound back in th- COOLANT LEAK!" A bright flash later, Jaylor was one of only three surviving members of the Junkers, immediately incarcerated in a Rheinland maximum security facility for piracy - Butcher Bay, located deep in the Keppler system. There was a reason for that, of course - the only way in and out of the Keppler system was a jump gate fitted with a faster-than-light transmission module. The only way in or out was on a prison shuttle with a Rheinland ID signature, and the border patrols made very sure of that. It seemed like the end. Days turned into months, into years. The prison was hardly controlled like most - but was rather a free-for-all zone under watch from the apathetic Rheinland Wardens. Boundaries were very quickly established - if the floor isn't yellow, you're fair game for the Wardens. A lot of the prisoners had been shot that way, and the fear of death usually kept the rest in line. Usually.

The details aren't very clear on how Jaylor ever escaped that facility, but a few years later, he pops up far from the Keppler system and the Sirius Sector alike - not eager to end up in an early grave and fearful of the consequences of continuing on how he had lived before, it seemed like standard employment was the only answer. NanoTrasen? Sure, why not. They can't be any worse than the Rheinland or life at Tripoli Shipyard. Surely.

What do you like about this character?: I have a lot of room to be cynical and crass due to his upbringing, but he still has a very firm attachment to his humanity, so he hasn't devolved into the realm of cruelty. His is a story of someone teetering on the edge of good, evil, law, and chaos. Where do we draw the lines? I get to employ other players to help him do that.

What do you dislike about this character?: His crass methods tend to scare off some people, or they tend to treat him rather poorly. Not to mention he's got all of the scientific knowledge of a sponge, which can make life aboard a research station difficult at times.

Do you think this character is fit to be a Head of Staff? (Please note that Head characters must be over 30, unless given special clearance): Major surprises below.

No.

 

Why?: Are you kidding me While I do firmly believe that pirates make good captains, I doubt that NanoTrasen is currently hiring pirate captains.

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Please provide (a) well articulated and argumented answer(s) to the following question(s).

How would you rate your own roleplaying?: If I had to be humble, I'd say I'm the lord and savior of literary introversion pretty good. I shine during antagonistic moments, and my mission is to kill people in entertaining and exciting new ways that makes them smile and quizically ask me how in the world I did that (as opposed to, say, telling me what a shitlord I am.) I believe roleplaying isn't "rated" but rather comes as a yes or no. Can you roleplay well with others and contribute to a story, even just as a supporting or background character? I'd say yes. Beyond that, differences are simply in styles of play and are more or less equal. Entertainment value and believability can vary, but you can't say that Fantasy novels are better than Detective novels. They're just different.

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Extra notes: My head of staff will be an entirely new character; I haven't ironed out all the details, but he's probably going to be a slimeball.

Edited September 7, 2014 by Guest

[Gollee]

I like Jaylor, my characters like Jaylor, (Except when he is having one of his creepy moments) , I think he would be alright as a HoP, though I am iffy about Captain, I am willing to +1 this to see you prove me wrong though.

[hivefleetchicken]

I'm not sure I want to see Jaylor as any head, as he's quite, erm...

Anyways, Brage has still proved himself a great leader in cargonia, and I'm sure if he makes another, less criminal character, he could easily tackle a head role better than most.

+1 from me.

[Lessick]

Do you guys even read. :I

Extra notes: My head of staff will be an entirely new character; I haven't ironed out all the details, but he's probably going to be a slimeball.

[Blue]

I'd recommend creating that character first and posting his back story and such, not necessarily play him if you want him to be a captain or HoP or something from the start of his presence of the Aurora, rather than use a pre-existing character that you don't intend to make a head.

[hivefleetchicken]

It was joke, less.

plz no ban

[EvilBrage]

I'd recommend creating that character first and posting his back story and such, not necessarily play him if you want him to be a captain or HoP or something from the start of his presence of the Aurora, rather than use a pre-existing character that you don't intend to make a head.

I thought about doing that, but that's so mainstream. And then I saw this question and decided that since 95% of applicants choose a character suited to being a head of staff, I would pick one that wasn't:

Do you think this character is fit to be a Head of Staff?

Just as important (and perhaps even more important) than making a "convincing" head of staff character is knowing which characters are not suited to become a head of staff. I've seen a lot of snowflake syndrome (albeit perhaps not on this server) regarding ex-cons and known ex-Syndies who are somehow miraculously able to obtain a position as a head of staff, and it's just silly.

[Gollee]

I'd recommend creating that character first and posting his back story and such, not necessarily play him if you want him to be a captain or HoP or something from the start of his presence of the Aurora, rather than use a pre-existing character that you don't intend to make a head.

I thought about doing that, but that's so mainstream. And then I saw this question and decided that since 95% of applicants choose a character suited to being a head of staff, I would pick one that wasn't:

We sort of need to see the backstory of the actual character, it doesn't matter whether it seems to "Mainstream" or not, those are what we need to decide upon, hipsters aren't excluded.

[Blue]

Yeah, it's best if we critique and judge that character rather than one that's alright as a non- head of staff.

[EvilBrage]

We sort of need to see the backstory of the actual character, it doesn't matter whether it seems to "Mainstream" or not, those are what we need to decide upon, hipsters aren't excluded.

That should probably be stated in the whitelist application, then. The way it reads as-is is extremely open-ended, and given that I could scrap any idea I present here in favor of any other concept I could think of later on, I'm sorry to say I don't quite follow your logic. I'm sure that anyone could come up with a suitable character for a head-level position, and I'd argue that the whitelist's purpose is not to see how creative you can be with a head of staff's backstory, but rather to gauge OOC maturity and capability.

[Covert0ddity]

Brage is an excellent roleplayer. An antagonist that helps promote conflict, rather than hunt for green text or chair rp. Even his characters add layers of personal conflict and inspire character created events. He also seems to have caught the essence of what a head should be right in a little jar.

+1

Also. I love the massive Freelancer reference in Jaylor's back story. Right down to the enemy death of 'Coolant leak.' Definite props.

[Lessick]

I'm going to have to agree with Brage. Though unfit characters have been an easy reason to decline whitelists in the past, it's usually in the context of applicants trying to pitch their sparkling and immature 20-something powergaming super-geniuses as good Head of Staff material, which is more a reflection on the judgment of the players involved than the characters themselves.

There's nothing wrong with using a non-head character to apply, as long as an applicant demonstrates they are responsible and mature enough to handle a Head of Staff role, understand the requirements, and are a good enough roleplayer to be on the whitelist.

Which, I think, Brage has done.

[Blue]

Often times we see apps with characters that don't really fit the head positions, yet their players insist that they are right for the job. And it's not just to gauge the player OOCly, we judge them ICly as well.

[Lessick]

Often times we see apps with characters that don't really fit the head positions, yet their players insist that they are right for the job. And it's not just to gauge the player OOCly, we judge them ICly as well.

 

it's usually in the context of applicants trying to pitch their [unfit characters] as good Head of Staff material, which is more a reflection on the judgment of the player

 

I addressed that. Please read more thoroughly before responding to posts, Blue. Basically, if someone's trying to insist that their character who is not fit for a head position, is, then that shows poor judgment, and is probably a sign that they as a player aren't ready for a whitelist.

...Which is irrelevant, here.

Do keep in mind that we've had characters that sounded great on paper that ended up being horrible in execution-- not because ICly they weren't fit to be a Head of Staff, but because OOCly, their players couldn't handle the role.

[EvilBrage]

[duck]

I hate voting for people, but.

Faiburgers. And Samuel Avalon actually made me hate his guts. I love hating peoples' guts. Qualityplayer. In need of more votes. And my whitelist story was actually something I felt like writing for my AI, so. Understand the mismatched story thing completely.

yes. Good luck.

[Jboy2000000]

You got my +1

[Lessick]

Application accepted.