Current Tajara lore (thoughts and proposed changes)

[moltenkore]

Hopefully this is in the right place. I have no idea, feel free to shift it to the right place.

...

This is a post outlining my current thoughts on Tajara as a whole and their place in the universe. Most of this is my own thoughts however I do believe a lot of Tajara players share the same incentive. I know that a lot of older Tajara players would agree with me but I would encourage the more silent subset of the race’s players to share their thoughts and feelings on the current state of the lore too.

Since the lore change about a year and a bit ago when Hive changed the entire race into his own idea of what they should be, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding them as a whole in an OOC capacity. This is to be expected as it has become a bit of a meme to hate on Tajara and simply cast them off as a ‘furry’ race. This obviously did happen before Hive but it was also enhanced by him too. I would like to think that the louder subset of our community is not bias against Tajara but this is as you would know, is not the case.

One of the main things that attracted me to Tajara as a race to play was the sense of broken unity that they cast on themselves. They were slaves that cast off their shackles and were slowly starting to emerge as a presence on the galactic front with a lot of room for expansion of both idealisms and society. They were broken by their old masters yet they still had this sense of wanting to achieve greater things in a unified and accepting way. Yes, the conflict between Tajara and noble existed and this was fine as it gave a reminder to the species of their old past.

It seems that now, Tajara are just a completely broken and fragmented species that do not really fit into a galactic society. My main beef with the current lore is this Soviet Russia style of Tajara which in my opinion doesn’t really fit in very well with anything. They seem to have lost the OOC attraction that gave them spirit in the first place and now, a Tajara player can’t do right by the lore or OCCly and they’re being restricted by both. They seem to just be a rip off of humanity in that aspect and less alien ideals.

One thing that I have seen is the constant focus on the PRA’s (People’s Republic of Adhomai) action on policing Tajara that are not even present on their planet anymore, they are quite simply light-years away yet somehow, the PRA is able to take Tajara back and punish them for certain aspects. In my mind this doesn’t really make a lot of sense. It is like if someone escaped from North Korea and suddenly they sent to a death camp by the country that is protecting them. How the PRA has the resources to even cope beyond their conflicted planet is curious at best.

I have seen a big reluctance by Tajara players to even consider the conflict on their character’s home world as again, it seems light-years away. Why would someone that has escaped from such a system bring conflict from said system into a completely different environment which in a sense is completely ignorant to their previous life? It honestly doesn’t work. I have seen the argument that conflict brings RP but in this case however, such a conflict rarely gets role-played unless it’s some form or event or a random traitor round.

This leads into the older lore as a thing that stands out. The noble conflict was actually role-played and there was reason to act on the conflict as the centrepiece. The Tajara’s slave master being directly in front of the Tajara roleplaying gave him/her a better opportunity to decide whether or not their character was a noble hater or not. They were not forced by the lore to hate and they could decide if their character’s upbringing dictated conflict or not.

Another thing that I see frequently is Tajara being from only one place. Most seem to only come for the PRA and any mention of the other two factions ALA (Adhomai Liberation Army) and NKA (New Kingdom of Adhomai) seem to be scarce at best. This again (in my opinion), doesn’t give Tajara players a lot of room to work with because they pretty much do not want to lose the character that they have put time and effort in just because the PRA decides to snipe them from half way across the galaxy. The result of this is the same reluctance.

I proposed the following changes to the lore:

-Make Tajara a more advanced society and drop the soviet Russia thing. Less rip-off humans and more alien. Perhaps having 2 – 3 planets of their own with a small ship capacity to tend to such planets. This would give Tajara players the ability to decide where their Tajara came from without being forced to come from the exact same place with the same story to tell. This three system society could either be governed by a unified body with certain rebel forces within or have segmented planetary factions. Perhaps, two out of the three planets are controlled by one more liberal faction and the other planet is controlled by a more conservative faction. These different factions however could still have trade ties and other diplomatic connections with NT and/or other human companies.

The planetary scale also would show that the people behind each fraction are capable of moving outside of their own zone instead of being stuck in one place and dictating the lives of people light-years away from wooden villages.

Another result could be Tajara coming from different factions that are still have ties to NT, this could potentially have a lot of RP value. Tajara A from planet A/B might not like the ideas of Tajara B from planet C and vice versa. “She’s hearrrrd rrrumours about them.”

-Shift the noble wars back in time again. Having this as a reminder of one’s past instead of a current day war was a lot better in my opinion. A Tajara could hate a noble or they could not, it was up to the player to decide and I think this worked better.

-Make the uprisings result from within Tajara society instead of a human catalyst. This could work out a lot better in conjunction with the change above. Tajara society could come to its own conclusion instead of having human ideals dictated then removed by a sniping PRA.

In conclusion I believe the suggested changes would give the race back its mojo and allow room for a lot of neat backstories as well as conflict and RP. In my opinion, it would allow the Tajara to fit in to the current state of things instead of being some outcast race that they appear to be now.

I would like to say: conflict does create RP but it shouldn’t always define RP, there is more to life than just hate.

Wrapping up, I think this post is probably long enough already but I hope that people will share their opinions on my proposed changes as well as my thoughts on the current state of Tajara as a whole. Perhaps they agree, perhaps they do not. I would love to hear what both the older and newer Tajara whitelist holders think, especially the silent ones.

[Alberyk]

Since the lore change about a year and a bit ago when Hive changed the entire race into his own idea of what they should be, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding them as a whole in an OOC capacity. This is to be expected as it has become a bit of a meme to hate on Tajara and simply cast them off as a ‘furry’ race. This obviously did happen before Hive but it was also enhanced by him too. I would like to think that the louder subset of our community is not bias against Tajara but this is as you would know, is not the case.

 

Not really, said changes pre-date Hive, pretty sure they were written when Sue was the lore master, all the great tajaran war, the hadii taking control, the pra, the adhomai liberation army and the second revolution is nearly or more than three years old. The "furry meme" and "catbeast meme" always existed since I can recall, little has changed about it.

 

One of the main things that attracted me to Tajara as a race to play was the sense of broken unity that they cast on themselves. They were slaves that cast off their shackles and were slowly starting to emerge as a presence on the galactic front with a lot of room for expansion of both idealisms and society. They were broken by their old masters yet they still had this sense of wanting to achieve greater things in a unified and accepting way. Yes, the conflict between Tajara and noble existed and this was fine as it gave a reminder to the species of their old past.

 

That is pretty much old bay lore, I don't think we have place for the alien overlords or an entire race of slaves. There is plently of conflict and the like with the actual state and history. I have seen a lot of people comment that the tajara lore is indeed good and rich, unlike all the works of the paste, which are indeed subject of jokes now. And when you did apply for tajara, they were not slaves anymore, neither they had anything related to oversees, and as I pointed out, all the important part of the lore were already a thing or pretty much their foundations were in place.

 

It seems that now, Tajara are just a completely broken and fragmented species that do not really fit into a galactic society. My main beef with the current lore is this Soviet Russia style of Tajara which in my opinion doesn’t really fit in very well with anything. They seem to have lost the OOC attraction that gave them spirit in the first place and now, a Tajara player can’t do right by the lore or OCCly and they’re being restricted by both. They seem to just be a rip off of humanity in that aspect and less alien ideals.

 

We hardly had anything that could resamble a lore that was not a mix between old bay and elder scrolls rip off. And I don't see they lost the OOC attraction when they are one of the most popular species, and the actual lore has been running for years without trouble. About being rip offs, most of our alien species explore this in a way or other, like unathi being japanese samurai/knights/turks/etc.

 

One thing that I have seen is the constant focus on the PRA’s (People’s Republic of Adhomai) action on policing Tajara that are not even present on their planet anymore, they are quite simply light-years away yet somehow, the PRA is able to take Tajara back and punish them for certain aspects. In my mind this doesn’t really make a lot of sense. It is like if someone escaped from North Korea and suddenly they sent to a death camp by the country that is protecting them. How the PRA has the resources to even cope beyond their conflicted planet is curious at best.

 

I don't see this ever being enforced after the failure of the labor camps, that were an ic solution to an ooc problem, that should have been solved with warnings and whitelist removals at worst. I also don't see this being enforced in the station as well, one of my character openly wears a pre-revolution outfit to display his status and still, he is around without being dragged away by cat KGB. I don't even recall anyone being punished icly or oocly because they were not aligned to the pra.

 

I have seen a big reluctance by Tajara players to even consider the conflict on their character’s home world as again, it seems light-years away. Why would someone that has escaped from such a system bring conflict from said system into a completely different environment which in a sense is completely ignorant to their previous life? It honestly doesn’t work. I have seen the argument that conflict brings RP but in this case however, such a conflict rarely gets role-played unless it’s some form or event or a random traitor round.

 

Speak by yourself, because I had plently of interaction and roleplay related to the conflict, and plently of my character's motivation, reasons and behavior are related to it. And people don't give up on their ideas, beliefs or opinions just because they moved to somewhere else, a republican is still going to be one, and a monarchist is still going to be one.

 

This leads into the older lore as a thing that stands out. The noble conflict was actually role-played and there was reason to act on the conflict as the centrepiece. The Tajara’s slave master being directly in front of the Tajara roleplaying gave him/her a better opportunity to decide whether or not their character was a noble hater or not. They were not forced by the lore to hate and they could decide if their character’s upbringing dictated conflict or not.

 

The lore did not change much since Sue wrote down the pillars that other people would add their work on. As I said, there was no real great change or re-works like the vaurca suffered, during the history of the tajaran lore. Nothing much was being changed, just additions that created more opportunities, such as the new kingdom of Adhomai being a thing. Take in mind that the tajara great war happened no less than 28 years ago, so, plently of tajara would know what was living under the nobility's rule, besides they still exist and control an entire country. And no, no one is forced to hate the nobles due to the lore, I have meet several characters that don't fit said descriptions, ones that do not care and others that do hate the nobility, there are far more options than you claim there is.

 

Another thing that I see frequently is Tajara being from only one place. Most seem to only come for the PRA and any mention of the other two factions ALA (Adhomai Liberation Army) and NKA (New Kingdom of Adhomai) seem to be scarce at best. This again (in my opinion), doesn’t give Tajara players a lot of room to work with because they pretty much do not want to lose the character that they have put time and effort in just because the PRA decides to snipe them from half way across the galaxy. The result of this is the same reluctance.

 

As I said, I have seen plently of characters not related to the people's republic, it makes sense most of the tajara being from the people's republic, mostly because it is the biggest faction and it is an ally of NanoTrasen.

 

I proposed the following changes to the lore:

-Make Tajara a more advanced society and drop the soviet Russia thing. Less rip-off humans and more alien. Perhaps having 2 – 3 planets of their own with a small ship capacity to tend to such planets. This would give Tajara players the ability to decide where their Tajara came from without being forced to come from the exact same place with the same story to tell. This three system society could either be governed by a unified body with certain rebel forces within or have segmented planetary factions. Perhaps, two out of the three planets are controlled by one more liberal faction and the other planet is controlled by a more conservative faction. These different factions however could still have trade ties and other diplomatic connections with NT and/or other human companies.

The planetary scale also would show that the people behind each fraction are capable of moving outside of their own zone instead of being stuck in one place and dictating the lives of people light-years away from wooden villages.

Another result could be Tajara coming from different factions that are still have ties to NT, this could potentially have a lot of RP value. Tajara A from planet A/B might not like the ideas of Tajara B from planet C and vice versa. “She’s hearrrrd rrrumours about them.”

-Shift the noble wars back in time again. Having this as a reminder of one’s past instead of a current day war was a lot better in my opinion. A Tajara could hate a noble or they could not, it was up to the player to decide and I think this worked better.

-Make the uprisings result from within Tajara society instead of a human catalyst. This could work out a lot better in conjunction with the change above. Tajara society could come to its own conclusion instead of having human ideals dictated then removed by a sniping PRA.

 

No, we do not need a rework that would change everything that was written and created during the years, there is no reason to change something that has been successful until now and just throw away the work of the writters, neither going back to some rip off is a better option. As I have observed, reworking the lore will just drive people away from the species, like what happened with the vaurca.

 

In conclusion I believe the suggested changes would give the race back its mojo and allow room for a lot of neat backstories as well as conflict and RP. In my opinion, it would allow the Tajara to fit in to the current state of things instead of being some outcast race that they appear to be now.

I would like to say: conflict does create RP but it shouldn’t always define RP, there is more to life than just hate.

Wrapping up, I think this post is probably long enough already but I hope that people will share their opinions on my proposed changes as well as my thoughts on the current state of Tajara as a whole. Perhaps they agree, perhaps they do not. I would love to hear what both the older and newer Tajara whitelist holders think, especially the silent ones.

 

This is what you would like to go back then: https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=Tajara&oldid=442

Instead of this: https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=Tajara&oldid=704

Anyway, as someone that play characters of the said species a lot, I don't see that most of the conflict is based on the fight between both sides, neither all of the roleplay is around the war at Adhomai. Sure the conflict plays an important part and should be treated as such, but there is more to be and roleplay than just the conflict between factions. And I believe what you are calling; "give the race back its mojo" is nothing but nostalgia, and I am sure you were whistelisted to play as a tajara when the basis of our current lore were already established, such as the revolution, the ethnicities and the noblemen. Repating myself; no reason to change something that already works fine, because there is little to nothing to gain from it. And I see that the species situation is far better now, there are far more opportunities, the lore is far more rich and there is plot development.

[Guest Marlon Phoenix]

You are asking us to delete literally everything about Tajara and revert them to baystation lore from 3 years ago. This suggestion has functionally zero chance of being implemented in its current form.

That said, I am happy to discuss the problems you see with the Tajara species.

You are right that the PRA is Soviet themed. That is intentional. It is incredibly common in SciFi and SciFant to take elements of human civilization and inflate it and tweak it into something unique, but vaguely recognizable. We have tried to take scifi tropes and twist them into something uniquely Auroran. If you do not like the soviet themes, you are free to invest in the other two factions on Adhomai of the ALA or NKA, who have many differences from each other.

The Slavemasters narrative was incredibly weak. You are saying the Soviet trope is cliche, but baylore's slavemasters were Baby's First Precursors. Even in Aurora's case, the old Overseers narrative is literally just the cliffnotes for the lore as it currently is.

Our lore is much stronger for Tajara. The nobility ruled the planet brutally, humans showed up, and the old systems of Adhomai buckles, and violent upheavel drastically changes the planet into something unrecognizable. Tajara have broken free of the nobility, but there are still deep rooted problems in the new order. Tajara now have agency in deciding their own fates. There are competing ideologies, all of which think that their own goals are genuinely in the best interest of the race, and any of the three main factions can be defended in an intelligent argument. Why would you IC support oldlore's slavemasters? That's stupid. You'd be dumb or brainwashed.

The deportations have not been a thing for a long time, since the middle of Hive's tenure as overseer for Tajara. They are just a voluntary thing some Tajara put in their records now, similar to people playing Guwan. If your whitelist is stripped it might be used to handwave your cat disappearing if we really needed to, but otherwise it is an IC threat hanging over the heads of dissident Tajara. It is not the PRA government kidnapping you in the middle of the night. They do have some mechanisms, but mostly it is the PRA asking NT to send you back, and NT obliges because Tajara are cheap and easy to replace.

In all, I agree with Alberyk. You are asking to return to something that you are looking at in hindsight that makes it look better. But I was around during that time, and the Tajara race is incredibly more mature, interesting, dynamic, and fun for players who invest themselves in it. There is nothing we can do about the OOC hatred because that's just an element of SS13's playerbase.

[Mofo1995]

What, currently, do you feel are the major defining themes of the Tajaran race? What motif do you believe they currently possess, and what major questions do you think they explore, if any?

There's no right answers, to these, I'm genuinely curious and interested in your feedback. A complete rewrite and rework is not going to happen for more than the reasons listed by the previous two posters, and stagnant grimdark war 24/7 is not my plan for the future of the race. However, your input would still be greatly appreciated.

[moltenkore]

Thank you all for your feedback so far, it's rather interesting to see what people think and their current mindsets. I was hoping for a few older players to chime in on this thread and I have asked around but I think it is bold thinking.

 

What, currently, do you feel are the major defining themes of the Tajaran race? What motif do you believe they currently possess, and what major questions do you think they explore, if any?

 

As I stated in my original post the main attraction to Tajara was this broken unity sense that they had around them but as it stands now they're more of a as you say, stagnant grimdark and they seem to have lost their edge. Their older motif seemed to be self betterment as the new human ideologies worked their way into Tajaran society. However, their current motif is this lingering darkness that seems to hang around their necks. It doesn't appear that the move to human space has changed them much and the fear of what could hit them from the home world, if they got deported and ended up back there. I don't think they strive to better themselves as a whole species anymore. --This is the feeling I get from them personally.

I think the main question a Tajara in human space might end up asking themselves: Do I really want to go home? But perhaps, the main question a lot of Tajara ask themselves as a whole: did the war really end?

[Butterrobber202]

words

 

see thats the thing, the war HASNT Ended. Its currently a 3-way Civil War, that is still being fought. (Even if the control map makes little sense) But, yeah, that war is still being fought.