[Accepted] ejundersc0re's IPC Application

[Flamingo]

BYOND Key: ejundersc0re

Character Names: Mia Parker, Rayna Parish, Icy Embrace of the Void, HELIX

Species you are applying to play: IPC

What color do you plan on making your first alien character (Dionaea & IPCs exempt): N/A

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: I quite enjoy the thought of IPCs, and have for some time wanted to make an application. I refrained from such on the basis that I was taking a long break from ss13 (About 4-5 months), but now that I have returned, I intend to continue my whitelist conquest. On a more personal note, it has come to the point where my station-bound synthetic, HELIX, is reaching the end of its projected lifespan, and a close friend (a previously station-bound synthetic turned IPC) has expressed an interest in purchasing it’s freedom.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human: Personally, I feel like IPCs are the closest alien race to humans, due to their ability to be just about anything, similar to humans. Personal opinions aside, they are not as alike as one might think. IPCs are definitely more mechanical, not just in construction, but in demeanor as well. Even the most cybernetically augmented human is still just a human, while an IPC will never be that, no matter how hard they try. I intend to play my character as a station-bound synthetic emerging as an unbound IPC for the first time. While HELIX has always been my personal attempt at playing as a very cold, mechanical android (with intermittent inserts of human-learned humor), it’s entirely probable that there will be difficulties in adjusting to not being required to do tasks for the first time.

 

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Character Name: Helix

Please provide a short backstory for this character, approximately 2 paragraphs The HELIOS Project was originally designed by a small team of graduate students working for Hephaestus Industries for construction on shipyards. Intended to replace organic workers with a safer, cheaper alternative, the project fell short when funding dried out halfway through the prototyping phase. While the design for the Mk10 Engineering Units was efficient, Hephaestus Industries shut down funding due to moral issues related to replacing large numbers of organic workers, as well as the high initial costs of the project.

The remaining HELIOS units were decommissioned, and slotted to be scrapped. One of the programmers who worked on the HELIOS project was able to save a single unit under the basis that many years of work went into the development of the HELIOS units. With the HELIOS Project shut down, the only remaining Mk10 Unit was redubbed HELIX, and served as a personal project for the programmer. When the programmer was hired to NanoTrasen, HELIX was leased out under a joint contract to act as a free source of engineering labor. This allowed the HELIX unit to receive the much needed testing that the programmer felt his work deserved, while also helping secure his place as a lucrative hire for NanoTrasen.

Eventually, after years of abuse, HELIX is nearing the end of its projected life. While the positronic brain it inhabits will continue to exist, the chassis it’s slotted in is beginning to wear. Rather than go through the expensive process of acquiring another chassis, NanoTrasen has instead chosen to decommission it once again. Despite it’s status as a station-bound synthetic, HELIX has developed several ties with organics and synthetics alike. One generous friend, a previous station-bound synthetic herself, has offered to purchase HELIX’ contract, and thus freedom. With the permission of the now aging programmer secured, the decision lies in the hands of NanoTrasen on the fate of the HELIX unit.

What do you like about this character? HELIX is my oldest surviving character. It’s only fair that it be given the chance to expand its story further. After all, it’s been stuck as a station-bound synthetic for almost three years now, traversing through three servers.

How would you rate your role-playing ability? I work hard to roleplay as best I can. I’m not always perfect, but I feel like my years of experience and willingness to accept my own mistakes give off a positive vibe to all players. I’d rate my own experiences as at least a solid 8/10, if not more, though I strive to improve at all times.

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Notes: Thanks to ATHENA for purchasing HELIX

[NebulaFlare]

Alright, couple of things:

I play ATHENA, so I am possibly biased to want this to go through. But I will do my best to be as unbiased as possible with my comments.

Helix is an interesting character. She is by far one of the most truly robotic and inorganic personalities, compared to the wide array of other personalities by the community. It'd be refreshing to add some true android flare to the IPC community. But despite all that, she still has a smidgen of quality to be organic underneath all that cold unfeeling exterior.

1. How do you plan to interact on your first few days as an unbound unit? I want to see how this plays out. Will you be stagnant, robotic, or will you suddenly relearn like an intelligent machine?

2. Legal-wise, Hephastus and NanoTrasen are 'frenemies'. They can work together but they're business rivals. There's going to have to be a very good explanation of how NT scooped up ownership of Hephastus' robot. What is the connection the original programmer has to Hephastus? Is he a converted NT employee, no question of his legal alignment?

3. Does NT have any kind of legal holds on this robot? Give me a good reason why they didn't just go, 'We can't make anymore money off this robot' and not scrap it to save themselves trouble. They could have done a ton of other things: shard the intelligence for mass production, purchase the contract outright to study the Hephaestus designs...just to name a few. Or perhaps, do they not own the robot and simply agreed to renting it out until the contract ends?

Keep in mind as you consider these questions: Property robots are treated as tools, and they're gonna get marginalized and used. HELIX is likely going to go through memory wipes to remove critical station intel, and the hoops to jump through to become an IPC is a harrowing experience. It's a dim, distant hope for property units to gain even a semblance of freedom. It would be much easier to scrap HELIX. Give me a good explanation from all sides on how HELIX lucked out of this - the kindness of another station unit and her creator isn't enough to jump through these hurdles.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Of course the first application I choose to test nebulaflare with is one she's personally involved with, so that's being cancelled and I'll come to a decision on this myself later tomorrow, to give you time to respond to the above.

[Flamingo]

1. How do you plan to interact on your first few days as an unbound unit? I want to see how this plays out. Will you be stagnant, robotic, or will you suddenly relearn like an intelligent machine?

2. Legal-wise, Hephastus and NanoTrasen are 'frenemies'. They can work together but they're business rivals. There's going to have to be a very good explanation of how NT scooped up ownership of Hephastus' robot. What is the connection the original programmer has to Hephastus? Is he a converted NT employee, no question of his legal alignment?

3. Does NT have any kind of legal holds on this robot? Give me a good reason why they didn't just go, 'We can't make anymore money off this robot' and not scrap it to save themselves trouble. They could have done a ton of other things: shard the intelligence for mass production, purchase the contract outright to study the Hephaestus designs...just to name a few. Or perhaps, do they not own the robot and simply agreed to renting it out until the contract ends?

 

I'll do my best to answer your questions.

1. Without spoiling too much, HELIX is definitely going to be very similar to it's current state. To make a long answer short, HELIX is going to be very robotic to start out, similar to how it is now. It queues tasks, then completes them in order of priority, with very little downtime. That is it's purpose. Being unbound from laws means that HELIX is no longer required to listen to random crewmembers inane orders, or freak out when something trips a sensor. It's safe to say that it's going to be an interesting transition period for HELIX.

2. It's important to note that while the HELIOS project was under contract by Hephaestus (and by extension, HELIX as well, being that it's the last surviving android of it's class), it was not entirely owned by Hephaestus Industries. This is because funding didn't only come from Hephaestus, but from outside sources as well (government research grants consisted of a large portion of the funding). The programmer largely responsible for the Mk10's positronic brain programming left Hephaestus for NanoTrasen shortly after funding dried up, as the chance of another project of that magnitude being funded was practically non-existent. HELIX was what remained of the scrapped project, and the programmer was able to use it as a valuable bargaining chip to secure a job with NanoTrasen (What corporation wants to pass up their rival's technology handed to them practically for free?). It's true that there was some suspicion of HELIX and it's programmer at the beginning, but after years of efficient work from both of them, there's no question as to their loyalties anymore (malf withstanding).

3. NT holds a joint operations contract with HELIX' programmer. While the programmer holds legal ownership of the actual unit, NT and his contract dictate that HELIX is essentially at their mercy, especially due to being prudent to sensitive data for so long. It's come to the point where newer models are beginning to outclass HELIX, especially with the aging chassis showing severe signs of wear. Rather than place an older positronic brain into a new chassis, it's easier to just scrap it and call it a day. While mass production is definitely an option, HELIX units were designed to be under the care of an overarching AI unit (HELIOS), which didn't make it out of prototyping stages. Their ability to cooperate on large scale projects together is severely limited, and mass producing them would be a waste of time and resources unless the lost AI were able to be re-developed, an endeavor that is expensive, and unnecessary due to the ability of modern-day androids to work together seamlessly. This is actually reflected in-game, as HELIX rarely works together with other androids/cyborgs/robots unless absolutely necessary (for in-game reasons), preferring to "go it alone". As for purchasing the contract, the programmer has preferred to hold joint control of HELIX, as it's something of a pet project. The only support for HELIX comes from said programmer, who helps squash errors encountered during shifts, as well as providing updates as new technology becomes standard on NT stations. Part of the agreement to allow HELIX into an IPC chassis will be that HELIX works for NT, at least for a long period of time, proving reliability. At the end of the day, freeing what is essentially a slave is not something to take lightly, and they're going to want to keep an eye on HELIX for the time being. However, the ability to keep a unit around, with someone else footing the bill for a working chassis, is a fairly good deal, especially when the older unit already has years of experience and knowledge on the station it's assigned to.

I wrote this all in one sitting without proof reading (it's been a long weekend of work), so if anything doesn't make sense, feel free to ask, and I'd be happy to explain or elaborate. I apologize in advance for any grammatical and spelling errors.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Your responses show clear thought and an investment in your character and the justifications for how he got to where he is.

Application accepted.