[Accepted] Munks' Unathi Whitelist Application

[Munks]

BYOND Key: Munks

Character Names: Tom Appleberry (Forensic Technician)

Species you are applying to play: Unathi

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

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’m interested in branching out from standard human roleplay and trying my hand at a new species. I’m biased in favor of Unathi not just because of my interest in lizards in general but because I enjoyed reading through the lore built up for them and I’m interested in carrying it out firsthand through interactions with others. In addition, Unathi stands because they’re a species heavily geared towards Security and Engineering, which are the two departments I enjoy playing the most.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:

Aside from the obvious mechanical differences, Unathi culture emphasizes clan loyalty, class/social structure, and ancestral reverence, as well as, of course, the honor-centric mindset that heavily influences every part of Unathi society. While there’s a great amount of possibilities for the types of Unathi one can play, it is still heavily limited in comparison to the flexibility that comes with Human characters. Ranged or otherwise dishonorable combat is to be avoided, as well as other nuances such as maintaining a sense of professionalism and respect when addressing others (referring to superiors by title or command rather than calling them by their name, and the stigma surrounding first-name basis) and the importance of taking care of prisoners (mainly relevant to security).

 

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Character Name: Is'sariss Suthir

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

Born just before the beginning of the Contact War, in 2433, Is'sariss has not had the opportunity to do much in life but work. Figuring out the hard way early on that he didn’t have much to offer in the way of combat skills, Is'sariss took to searching for any other path he could take to make himself valuable and avoid being thrown out as cannon fodder in the years following the nuclear exchange that took a heavily toll on Moghes. Gaining an apprenticeship under a local carpenter, he gained what experience he could in construction and machinery use before reaching the age of 21, at which point he joined the Hegemony navy both to escape the declining state of his planet, as well as to further his professional development and explore the stars.

In the Navy, spending most of his time working on Brawler-class ships, he constantly sought to further his education and expand on the training imparted on him by his former master in his time on Moghes. Immediately distasteful of the living conditions in the Unathi military, he started eyeing private corporation work, especially on Einstein Engines for its long history with space industry, and Nanotrasen, which he had heard from many as being the place to be thanks to its role in the forefront of phoron research and applications. Ultimately, he decided on Nanotrasen, and with his term in the Navy almost up he began contacting Nanotrasen recruitment officials. A “civilian” once more, he spent the next several months back and forth in the recruitment process, until finally with the passing of his Nanotrasen Engineering Aptitude test formally entering Nanotrasen’s Engineer training program. Now, with his training complete, he has been assigned to his first duty station, the NSS Exodus.

What do you like about this character?

My main goal with this character was to make someone who was, while believable, kept as somewhat of a blank slate for further development. I think it’s more interesting to temper a character through interactions with others, rather than writing it all on the spot with no external involvement. In addition, I aimed to avoid falling into the same role of the combative Unathi brute that I’ve seen many times before.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

I try. I can be abrupt or outright silent a lot, but I like to think I at least add something.

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Notes:

None

Edited March 14, 2017 by Guest

[Fire and Glory]

'Ello, your application has piqued my interest so I'll be running through its length.

I don't recall ever seeing you around but that says more about me than it does about you these days.

 

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:

Aside from the obvious mechanical differences, Unathi culture emphasizes clan loyalty, class/social structure, and ancestral reverence, as well as, of course, the honor-centric mindset that heavily influences every part of Unathi society. While there’s a great amount of possibilities for the types of Unathi one can play, it is still heavily limited in comparison to the flexibility that comes with Human characters. Ranged or otherwise dishonorable combat is to be avoided, as well as other nuances such as maintaining a sense of professionalism and respect when addressing others (referring to superiors by title or command rather than calling them by their name, and the stigma surrounding first-name basis) and the importance of taking care of prisoners (mainly relevant to security).

You seem to have good comprehension of the Unathi themes and what stands out when compared to humans, this is good, you also didn't bother listing off any of the actual mechanical differences or the fact that lizardmen hiss, brownie points from me.

 

Character Name: Jolss Ss’sarlan

what an awful name tbh

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

Born just before the beginning of the Contact War, in 2433, Jolss has not had the opportunity to do much in life but work. Figuring out the hard way early on that he didn’t have much to offer in the way of combat skills, Jolss took to searching for any other path he could take to make himself valuable and avoid being thrown out as cannon fodder in the years following the nuclear exchange that took a heavily toll on Moghes. Gaining an apprenticeship under a local carpenter, he gained what experience he could in construction and machinery use before reaching the age of 21, at which point he joined the Hegemony navy both to escape the declining state of his planet, as well as to further his professional development and explore the stars.

In the Navy, spending most of his time working on Brawler-class ships, he constantly sought to further his education and expand on the training imparted on him by his former master in his time on Moghes. Immediately distasteful of the living conditions in the Unathi military, he started eyeing private corporation work, especially on Einstein Engines for its long history with space industry, and Nanotrasen, which he had heard from many as being the place to be thanks to its role in the forefront of phoron research and applications. Ultimately, he decided on Nanotrasen, and with his term in the Navy almost up he began contacting Nanotrasen recruitment officials. A “civilian” once more, he spent the next several months back and forth in the recruitment process, until finally with the passing of his Nanotrasen Engineering Aptitude test formally entering Nanotrasen’s Engineer training program. Now, with his training complete, he has been assigned to his first duty station, the NSS Exodus.

This doesn't say as much as I'd personally like but I can understand the desire to have a blank slate, so I'll hold off on interrogating you. I don't really see that much of an issue with this, it strikes me as a solid foundation to add other things to, although the absence of said things is a bit noticeable, (what was his family and youth like? Is the move to Tau-Ceti with their strange humans striking him particularly hard? Etc.) but again, it looks solid, I especially like the themes that Jolss is just a bit soft overall, and the backstory strikes good tones with me.

 

What do you like about this character?

My main goal with this character was to make someone who was, while believable, kept as somewhat of a blank slate for further development. I think it’s more interesting to temper a character through interactions with others, rather than writing it all on the spot with no external involvement.

Most of the characters I've made for my own whitelists typically jerked onto a different path for their personality and themes immediately after I started playing them so I can see why you'd want to avoid setting everything into stone. It seems your character is believable while still remaining as a foundation to add other things onto, so mission accomplished.

 

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

I try. I can be abrupt or outright silent a lot, but I like to think I at least add something.

Humble and honest, I like it.

I can't make any comment on your abilities while playing but you've obviously put thought and effort into your application, and I'm getting good tones and vibes from it, so I endorse this application.

[Munks]

Sorry about the name. I honestly suck with coming up with names; I'm sure I can come up with something better but I was eager to get something down so I could move on to the meat of the application.

His family, as far as Unathi go, were as supportive as he could hope for in that plenty of effort was put into raising him with the expectation he's going to turn around, contribute, and be of some use to his family and their status. He had to start off with his apprenticeship early into his teens as a result, as he wasn't quite bringing enough to the table on his physical prowess alone. The relationship wasn't so close that he was particularly torn about heading off-planet, but still enough of a bond that they supported him in his efforts to make something of himself, if not for his own development then for the sake of his family's standing.

Being around a lot of humans, and in human controlled space in general, is the same mixed bag that most Unathi probably experience. The Hegemony was no doubt an exercise in adversity and strict control itself, so the move to working under Humans, what with their general air of superiority and the difficulty of climbing the ranks due to his species, hasn't required much adjustment. The biggest adaptation is the otherwise lenient nature of human contact: casual interaction with his superiors, lack of honorifics/last name basis, et cetera. Surely something that all Unathi end up having to deal with. However, like you said, he's a bit soft so it's not an outright offensive or disgusting change of pace, more likely just awkward as hell and he really wishes people would stop calling him by his first name or invading his personal bubble. That and a smug sense of superiority when he sees others making use of ranged weaponry (even if its use would be a very beneficial equalizer).

[Fire and Glory]

Now that the application is done, you might want to revisit the name and think of something else while you wait for judgement the application to be visited by the loreman, but it doesn't honestly matter much.

Anyway, I like your responses, more of those good tones, I get the feeling your idea of your character certainly extends past what's written down, and you can roll with most things to form the idea as needed.

 

That and just a smug sense of superiority when he sees others making use of ranged weaponry, even if it would be a good equalizer for him/he's not likely to end up being in combat himself.

Personally this strikes me as a little odd, though, as someone who never had the right abilities to be good in a fight, he would've been tempted at one point or another to go for firearms, no? So he'd probably be in a position to understand why others would go for it.

Or maybe he just feels smug because he didn't give into the temptation, but I'll admit I'm prompting you into responding because I want to hear more.

[Munks]

He's smug about because even though he avoids confrontation, he was still raised in a setting that looks down on it and imprinted on him that such actions were a stain on your character. He gets a certain sense of pride seeing the widespread use of ranged weaponry by humans, knowing that he comes from a people that were "above" such a thing. Growing up, his response to his lack of combat prowess was to learn to avoid being in such situations in the first place, not to find what he considers underhanded methods to compensate. Yeah, he'd benefit greatly from the use of firearms, but he's uncomfortable with stooping to it. He's not going to turn up his nose if they're standing between him and death, he's certainly not a death-before-dishonor type, but in most circumstances they're just training wheels to him.

By popular request I've attempted to give him a more honorable name

[Bokaza]

Right. I play a HoS and Officer regularly and have spent several shifts RP-ing with Munks. From his behavior I have noticed he has a good reaction speed, knowledge of mechanics and an excellent understanding of server responsibilities. His character does his best to be useful and knows his limits, which is something that marks a good roleplayer, at least in my opinion. But since I'm not exactly unbiased, I'm just going to provide an counterargument as well. I'll point out that I do not know the range of characters Munks can handle, since I've only ever seen him play one. This may be a minor issue concerning he may be switching to a wildly different play style from one of a human FT.

I will still give my support to this app, for what it's worth.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Hello!

Sorry for the delay.

Your feedback has been very constructive, and you've incorporated it well. I'm also interested in how you're portraying a character that's sort of roaming from job to job, joining the military, but remaining a civilian at heart. It's not exactly that he's "spoiled", but he comes across that he demands a certain standard of living. Often Unathi take martial prowess and sacrifice at face value, so a Unathi who's a bit more interested in immediate, material concerns and success is refreshing.

Your application is otherwise solid and i"ll be glad to accept it!