[Accepted] Tomiix's Unathi Application

[Tomiix]

BYOND Key: TomiixStarslasher

Character Names:Godric Wright, Daemon Jewitt

Species you are applying to play:Unathi

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

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 find non-human races to be cool. I live and breathe as a human being every day, and I like to play races that aren't my own. I like lizards and I think they are cool, so I want to play it. Byond the superficial, I find Feudal Systems to be interesting. Both the elements of a person who respects and works within it and one who has to deal with the consequences of being outside of it, and I want to work with both.

Identify what makes role-playing this species different than role-playing a Human:Unathi are definitely more conservative on average than humans in this age. So it's either you are a traditionalist or you are a exile, with very little in between on Moghes. With Ouerea having a bit more leeway. I always liked the idea of a underdog, and playing the underdog. So I would like to primarily play as a Unathi who has the odds stacked against them. However exploring the feudal ideals of a normal unathi is also something I am interested in. One thing that really intrigued me is how the mechanics of being a ‘Guwandi' is like on the station. Like a Unathi that feels they dishonored their clan so much that they become Guwandi while working for Nanotrasen, and the effect that would have with everyone watching. How people who were friends with this Unathi would react and try to convince them otherwise. That's not my primary idea for Unathi, but hopefully it shows my understanding of how seriously they take honor than the average human does.

 

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Character Name: Azala-Tar Guwan

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

Azala-Tar Quwan was abandoned at a young age and left at an orphanage in New Skalamar, Ouerea. The reason is largely unknown to her, but many factors could of been involved. Including the odd color of her scales, and the fact that she was missing a left leg made her very undesirable as a child to keep, let alone adopt. These factors kept her within the class of Guwan for her entire childhood. Being Guwan is bad enough, as the majority of society looks down upon the clanless. However, her unusual looks brought upon the torment of the other Guwan children as well. If there was a lowest, society as a whole made sure she knew she was below that. The deck of life was stacked against her, and the only hope she had came in the form of sympathy of a local Th'akh shaman in the city that she seeked out for guidance. She struck luck, as this particular Unathi shaman worked closely with humans who work in private corporations, bringing the Unathi religion to followers off world. This constant human contact exposed him to more liberal views, and created greater sympathy for her cause then normal. He witnessed first claw her great learning ability, as she listened and hung on to each word he said and saw in her eyes the want and need to be something more. He had connections with a human corporation, willing to pay for the education of potential employees. This would give her the opportunity to work and pay off her guild debt when on this planet she had none. However, an issue arised very quickly in his plan. No one in the orphanage taught her how to read, as everybody but himself had given up on her at that point. At risk of being exposed for teaching a woman how to read, he taught her the basics of Ceti Basic, and shipped her off with a group of Guwan being hired by this corporation, Nanotrasen. His only motivation being pity, and a small bit of inspiration granted to him by the humans who he interacted with on a daily basis, and now called friends.

At first, Azala-Tar Guwan went to a basic service school, where she was able to flesh out her knowledge of Ceti Basic. She learned how to cook and serve a station kitchen, and worked with Nanotrasen post graduation as a chef/waitress. She was barely able to pay her guild bills with what she was earning, and knew she would need to develop some form of tangible skill that would get her a increase in wage. Up until this point, this Guwan was doing all of these station tasks with one leg and a stilt. She talked with a female human roboticist on station that she slowly grew an attachment to, and arranged a deal where in exchange for getting a prosthetic leg, Azala-Tar would do manual labor for her. The roboticist didn't make this deal expecting to be in her favour, but didn't want the Unathi to feel like she was receiving unearned charity. While helping with her tasks, Azala absorbed the information around her like a sponge, and was instantly curious about the fields of Robotics and AI. She applied to be educated by a Nanotrasen school and was accepted for retraining at Mars University. Her acceptance angered many of the other Unathi who attended the same school through the same sponsor. She was a women Guwan, and had no place in a school let alone a Robotic's bay. Despite the pressure from her own kind, she found acceptance in curious humans who were more curious about her feelings and thoughts than her color or last name. After being called a 'Guwan' for her entire life, she was very relaxed about letting the Human's and Skrell call her by simply Azala. A shortened bastardization of her first name that infuriated the other Unathi when they overheard someone refer to a Guwan in a personal matter. Azala had gotten in quite a few fights because of this, normally in defence after some kind of battery or sexual harassment. She was constantly told by the Unathi bullies that her presence there is staining the reputation of all Unathi that had walked through those halls. As she was clearly weak and had inferior intellect, her success would make their career look easy. Her presence became the subject of controversy, as debates between the Unathi about tradition vs Izweski liberalism sparked in violence on campus. This almost jeopardized her status as a student, as faculty found her to be too much of a distraction. However, with the help of a few human friends, she proved her worth, and demonstrated to the faculty that she was just as good of a student as anyone else. Don't let this fool you however, quite a few of the Human Martians had terrible feelings towards all alien life, and targeted Azala especially as the other Unathi wouldn't stand up for her. As to them she was either a disappointment to their race or even if they were more liberal, they didn't want to deal with the backlash of helping a Guwan from the other more assertive Unathi.

Azala-Tar Guwan graduated and became qualified to work in robotics at Nanotrasen. She specializes in prosthetics and their maintenance. During her time at Mars University she was able to leave behind a part of her shell, and was finally able to socialize with people other than imaginary friends, or bullies. She has been assigned to Aurora station, where she hopes to help her fellow crew with her robotic creations. She developed some interesting ideas since proper university. She gained a newfound political perspective she couldn't afford to have before. She views the Izweski Hegemony and their objectives in high regard, as without them she more than likely wouldn't be in any state like she was now. She understands they aren't perfect, but can't help but be thankful that some part of her people were able to open the doors to cooperation with other species. Which in the end let her be herself. She feels the hegemony is the best bet for the evolution of Unathi to the social level of other species. She adopted strange views on AI while at the campus. Because of her lowered status as a being in the past, she tends to remark about the freedoms of synthetic beings or AI. Comparing them to a younger version of herself that existed years ago. She can sometimes be seen wearing clothing that advocates for the rights of synthetics, as if she was able to get rights, so should all other thinking and feeling machines. Azala has a long way to go, It takes awhile to build up her trust, as she has become naturally defensive. She is much more open and relaxed with people not of her own kind. Being around other Unathi stresses Azala, and she avoids conversation with them if possible.

What do you like about this character?

I think this is a character that has a long way to go, and that is the main appeal. The backstory ends on a bit of a good note, but this is a character that has had to deal with nothing but bad experiences wherever she went somewhere for the first time. She is going to know no one at Aurora and will more than likely inadvertently cause trouble with fellow Unathi. She can't escape being property, but she is playing her cards as best as she can and is gambling she will be the happiest in the life of a wage slave rather than a starving street bum. The most interesting thing for me is to experiment with her philosophical evolution on the rights of AI and when they get personhood.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

I would like to think I am fairly good at role-playing. I have been doing it for years, between forum roleplay or through other video game mediums like World of Warcraft. I also play an excessive amount of Dungeons and Dragons, and I am always the talkative one of the group. I'll be completely honest when I say that I am still learning all of the commands and systems involved, so my movement is still going to be sloppy in game, but I should be able to articulate myself and the character well through conversation.

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Notes: Thank you for considering me and my application, and thank you especially to Jenpai Sackboot and the lore_channel of the discord for answering my questions and helping me prepare for this application. If you have any criticisms, corrections or suggestions on how to improve my backstory please let me know.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

Hello!

Applying with a Guwan is always a tricky thing to do because you have to do the extra effort of proving you have an understanding of the lore even while subverting it.

Your character is a pretty major subversion, hitting every note of being an anti-thesis of everything a traditional unathi. However, at every one of these beats you show that these are actually negatives for the character. Azala-Tar Guwan isn't succeeding in spite of the lore. She has to move to Ouerea, which is a more liberal planet, but even there she can only get by on the donations of a charitable shaman. Even though she's come to live with humanity and supports synthetic rights, she maintains anxious and stressed around other Unathi, which came make her come off as a submissive and polite female as is typical in their society. Her views don't make her a special snowflake, they make her a struggling character on the fringe of a civilization that rejects her, and left stuck in one that tolerates her but remains deeply alien.

A strong character so I'll be happy to accept the app!