[Declined] AWPen - Vaurca dev applicaton

[AWPen]

Ckey/BYOND Username:

AWPenheimer

Position Being Applied For:

Vaurca lore developer

Past Experiences/Knowledge:

Managed races before on other servers as well as helped with rewrites, entire new lore concepts and other things relating to races. Always been a fan of writing lore mostly because I do enjoy writing, especially in a fantasy like setting such as here on SS13.

Do you play Vaurca extensively? Why?

I do not currently play Vaurca however do not let this sway your opinion of me. I have a lot of good ideas regarding the race and I enjoy all the different mechanics and existing backstory they have and I have some cool ideas o expand.

If you were chosen for Lore Developer, what would your plans be for Vaurca?

First off I want to mention the big feature, the fact that they are linked somehow through the 'hive network' I want to change Vaurca so that that hive hierarchy matters a lot more to them. Even when away from the hive I want to instil a great deal of honour in every Vaurca for their respective hive. Even when away from the main bulk such as on the station they still work massively towards improving the overall health of their respective hives.

I also want to rewrite a huge new thing into lore. I'm not sure how it starts yet either through a malfunction of the neural implants in the bound or if it was done on purpose by a hacker perhaps. I'm also still exploring the idea that it is a genetic resistance to the neural implants. Basically a portion of bound Vaurca in every hive enter their 'sleep like' state before reawakening and no longer being a Vaurca almost, they enter a zombie like state attacking anyone that isn't releasing the respective pheromones to signal they are also affected. They become cannibalistic, this creates a lot of new avenues for RP. Much like Tajara being affected by the war, Vaurca can also carry the scars of this 'war'. This also brings up that in every hive there will be something what I will refer to as the 'Underworld'. The dark avenues and the 'slums' every hive ship will have these infected Vaurca walking around doing their thing and respective warriors pushing them back. This gives people actually something to talk about in their backstories about their hives. Also this will slowly build up heightening tensions between Humans and Vaurca, as the unbound are specifically targeted they begin to blame humans etc.

This is just one idea I have and I have many more, this is just a little taster of what I may do if I get the position!

I also like the idea of VR however it seems quite basic and I want to expand more on what it actually means and what actually goes on inside these VR worlds.

Would you embark on major or minor rewrites of Vaurca lore? If yes, why is your rewrite worth it?

Of course! That is the big fun bit of it all. Writing huge new chunks of lore for everyone to read and act upon, feels good. I have one major idea in mind that would bring a lot of big big RP to Vaurca, not only in the species themselves but relating to Humans also.

I'll try to rework behaviours as already said so more of what Vaurca do is actually for the hive not themselves, both bound and unbound.

[Bygonehero]

While your ideas are certainly different than the other developers, you should try to sell them to us. You also mentioned managing other races on other servers. Could you give a specific example?

I personally enjoy the fact that Vaurca see concepts such as honor meaningless. Vaurca at least to me aren't proud to be doing something for their hive, its so ingrained into them that acting for the hive should have as little meaning as someone appearing for work on time, it's just expected.

Like I said, while I enjoy the above example, I'm not going to dismiss out of hand your vision for the species. Sell us on your vision and the rest will follow!

[AWPen]

Well as I said I want their to be big inbuilt respect for their hives, think Unathi with their clans only bigger. I helped out with lore on servers like Apollo, managed some briefly and I was lore master on a couple upstarts that wont matter anymore.

I want to kind of, remove Vaurcas sense of self and instead build a sense of hive, that they live (and may die for). The main thing I want to do is create a story for you and other players to build their characters off, I feel as though compared to other races you cant actually talk about much! So as stated I want to create this almost global disease or pandemic plaguing the lower ranks of the Vaurca. Hope this helps, and this only one idea I have in plan, I have many more that will work off of this main big write I'd like to do, giving a lot for Vaurca to RP about, specifically with Humans wink wink.

[AWPen]

Okays basically I'm going to break this all down a bit better since people asked, I'll start with personality.

So I feel like Vaurca don't feel or talk a lot about their hives. Most are bread for a very specific purpose in their hive so I would want to change their behaviour to mirror this. Due to the way they are bread, all members will feel great pride in their respect hives and queens. Everyone is born and dies for their hive correct? So why do Vaurca not act this way? I don't want to make it so everything they do is for the hive but push it more to the forefront of their minds, make them more patriotic so to speak. For example a Vaurca could be on station to learn more about Human behaviours, while he can do this passively he will record information down to transfer so that others better understand Humans etc. One perhaps may be a lab assistant to better learn how to fight Humans in a riot, or perhaps a medical assistant to learn how to better treat wounds. Every Vaurca should have a theme like this and their reasoning for being here is to better the hive. I also want specific hives to band together more and do things together. Bringing Vaurca together and perhaps making them a force to be reckon with. I don't want to take away the RP you guys currently have, more as to just make everyone overall represent their hives a bit more and form groups that look attractive from the outside, making people want to play.

I also got asked to talk more about the disease I have planned. This is the major rewrite I want to do, I feel like Vaurca cannot talk more about home and there isn't much in their backstory that can lead onto other things such as conflict with another race. Basically a portion of bound Vaurca start displaying zombie like characteristics, cannibilism etc. They lose all sense of control and enter their sleep like state, not really being self aware of what they are doing, they are asleep but their bodies do the work. The disease that affects their mechanical implants which most bound receive extensively, however this doesn't mean unbound are not affected, it just means they are less likely to contract the disease. Currently my idea is having it spread via spores however I will see what other ways I can come up with. It's slowly sweeping through the massive slums on Biesal, they are attempting to stop it however it does overall seem to be advancing. I will create a map of what the slums look like and designate areas known as 'Dark' zones, as in nothing comes out communications wise. The areas are completely infested. This is a story line I could develop to go both ways depending on how it is received by players. I want to give Vaurca something to do, sort of like the free synth movement. Vaurca as of now seem very passive characters, not doing a whole lot. You look at Unathi? You see them bully a Guwan. You look at Tajara? You see them bully a rebel, or talk war storys. You look at a Skrell? Along with feeling disgusting they can talk about schools and so on. You look at Vaurca? They can't do a whole lot.

This entire thing will affect how every other species sees them, some gain alliances through this and some are broken.

[AWPen]

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DmPncD3kbfA6ZEl1pZY7r_bCQniL3-cjLr8olu-ZoMg/edit?usp=sharing

Perhaps this shall explain what I will do a bit more!

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Hello!

Thank you for your application.

It's unusual that you are applying to oversee a race that you do not play. This is not completely unprecedented; Killerhurtz did not play Diona when I hired them.

Your two big changes are increasing the emphasis on honor and loyalty to the hive, and the creation of neural implant diseases that turn Bound into zombies.

Vaurca already have near-unwavering loyalty to their respective hives. This is reinforced with pheromones and other conditioning. It's not something that Vaurca need to openly boast about - loyalty is as natural as breathing. Unathi, like you mentioned, already have that form of honor being something seen as special and important. Why do you want Vaurca to emulate the Unathi honor code? Is it important to change their differences in order to create a specific kind of narrative with them?

The zombies are a unique suggestion. The Hiveships are already slums in their entirety - that is a reason that the Vaurca find it so difficult to leave the space they ended up in, and are forced to become refugees instead. The Vaurca can still pose an existential threat to whoever is around them if they all rose up on the warpath - as we saw with the Lii'dra invasion of Elyra. Their weapons and ships are ancient and falling apart but they can still pose a serious threat. I just cannot see a Hive tolerating such a sickness spreading through the ships. Why would the Vaurca not immediately and methodically eliminate the infection?

As a whole your suggestion seems to add a darker tone to an already rather dark species - a race of refugees with mass lobotomizations now also have to worry about zombies prowling through the slums. I'm worried that it could be seen as dark for darkness' sake. There is also a lot of focus on conflict and tragedy with all these changes. What do you think about Vaurca culture? What can Vaurca players use to base characters off of if they don't want to focus on tragedy?

[AWPen]

I know they already have unwavering loyalty, they will and often have died for the hive. However I want players to actually show this more, and push it to the front of their mind when doing things. Often I see players go an entire round without talking about the hive or doing anything at all. So it's something I want to make bigger RP wise.

The disease is currently spreading through the slums on Biesal where they are currently housed. They do not tolerate the disease at all, the instant someone comes down with it they are 'Forsaken' and exiled from the hive. However since at the end of the story I wrote they have managed to infect a lesser queen, so now they have organisation and communcation in their own form now making it very hard for the warrior castes to combat what is actually happening. This also can relate to a new idea similar to Guwan perhaps, where Vaurca can become 'Forsaken' and kicked out of of hive, however players must show they did something majorly wrong without it just being the default 'I killed someone'.

I hadn't thought about the species being dark beforehand but I can see you point, if it is a problem that opens up opportunity to introduce a new hive ship in another location that is major in lore. Another large settlement could provide the opportunity to create the idealist view of Vaurca life, having it contrast to whats happening on Biesal could be a good addition to the lore!

Overall I've been asking players what they want, reading what they want and so far it seems they want lore fleshed out which is what I plan to do. I want to add sustenance to the lore to give players the ability to make their fantastic backgrounds. Stage two will be making Vaurca more exciting to play but that will be a lengthy process of watching the players and watching what makes races attractive. Hope this helps you make a decision!

[Bygonehero]

I would like to hear your thoughts on the nature of the Vaurca hive-mind.

I personally think the term hive-mind is a misnomer, Vaurcas don't completely share consciousness. It is my personal opinion that The Vaurca 'hive-mind' is more like a giant organism. Take Zo'ra for example, with the Queen as the brain and Lesser Queens as vital organs. Worker and Warrior groups of Vaurca with a similar profession or jobs compose a Hive-cell, lesser organs in the body of Zo'ra.

In this setup, Individual hive-cells can be completely ignorant of each other and still be connected. After all, a bodies immune system does not need to know what the stomach is doing to work.

This is by no means canon, it's just my personal interpretation. It neatly explains Vaurca reasoning and the brutal efficiency highlighted in their species while also allowing each Vaurca to have different enjoyments and hobbies.

To reiterate, what is your interpretation of the Vaurca Hive-mind? Is it pheromones? Technology? Or is it something else entirely?

[AWPen]

Honestly, I think it is a link via pheromones but can be boosted by latest tech. The hive mind is a huge bonus to the Vaurca, being able to communicate this way allows them to do so much without it being obvious. However it does have its limitation, because they do link via pheromones range for example in a city could be limited but not as much on a station, which is why Vaurca on the station can only really talk to each other. Yes it can be boosted by different types of technology so it doesn't mean Vaurca on the station cant talk to their respective hive members but the boosters to do so can become very expensive so it is more a thing for a queen to have these boosters but the Vaurca do not, and therefore can only receive orders. Another way normal bound and unbound Vaurca get past this is by using conventional means of communication.

This is my interpretation at the moment at least, and I could tweak the lore if the players feel that is what is needed, but this pheromone based linking for a hive mind means group of Vaurca are very quick thinking and deadly.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Thank you for your application. Your unique take on the Vaurca's development gave me pause and I've been considering it for awhile. I really appreciate the extra work you put in for all of the google documents portraying your vision for them. Unfortunately another applicant has been chosen, so this thread will be locked and archived. I encourage you to keep participating in the server's lore and development in the future, and to keep in consideration any future openings that we have.