[Approved]JamOfBoy's Dionaea Application

[JamOfBoy]

BYOND Key: Jamchop23334

Character Names: Eosisei Guwan, Aszi Guwan, Lark, Meris, Ka'Akaix'Mezi Zo'ra

Species you are applying to play: Dionaea

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

Have you read our lore section's page on this species?: Of course.

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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:

As someone who mainly plays straightforward, 'easy' characters, I decided that to test my abilities as a competent Roleplayer, I needed to try something I inherently dislike. Someone told me that this is a good and solid way to test your skill and improve. I was always interested in the concept of an intelligent plant-person and just plant people in general, but being slow, oh so slow turned me away. I'm impatient. But still, I imagine there will be fun to be had.

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

Dionae are downright strange. They're baffling. It's strange to comprehend that a humanoid Dionaea isn't actually one being, but up to six, all joined together, transferring information. It's impossible to fully comprehend that the nymphs can also join together to form bigger structures.

Dionae can learn complex or finicky tasks by watching. If a Dionae didn't know how to write, simply watching someone would provide them the knowledge required. This means that in theory they could fill any role of any job simply by watching. They have incredible memory, on-par or better than digital storage. If they see something, they probably wont forget it. All Dionaea are unique from another, due to the fact that their seeds spread so far and their ability to near-perfectly copy skills. They have no set culture.

Mechanically:

You require light to survive, essentially. You regenerate in light and take damage in darkness. This makes for dangerous times when Engineering doesn't or can't set up the engine - but danger is where the fun is.

You move extremely slowly. This is due to their evolution possibly favouring energy economy over physical speed. Game wise, this and the last point makes you a tank rather than a hit and run in terms of combat. Against things you can't out run, like Plant-B-Gone, you're at a disadvantage. Like Vaurcae, you don't need suits to survive in low/no pressure. You're fine in the cold emptiness of space - as long as you have light. You can regrow limbs.

 

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Character Name: Eyes That Gaze

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

Eyes That Gaze was formed from a stray spray of Dionae seeds, who landed on a mining outpost a time ago. Miners found the pods, and exposed them to water and nutrients, and the nymphs formed into Eyes That Gaze. The Dionaea's time on the mining outpost was short, but there they were subjected to a religion which worshipped light. In the short time Eyes had, the Dionaea studied and learned about as much of this religion as possible. It's teachings resonated - make this large universe better through many small actions, leaving comfort and peace in your wake.

Gaze was transferred to be studied in an isolated environment. This was short lived, and soon They was to be studied in social and interactive tests. Where a more applicable place for research than on board a state-of-the-art Research Station? But an issue arose - how do you test this fairly? Giving the subject a position of experimentation and only experimentation would alter the results. Sending them to interact with people as a test subject would cause bias. To even the odds, to balance this correctly, to retrieve accurate results, the environment must be natural. So, Eyes That Gaze was assigned a job - Priest of the Church Of The Holy Light. (yes, the meme religion on the wiki)

What do you like about this character?

Eyes That Gaze is rather new to interacting with people. There seems to be a large amount of pirate Dionaea, which I wanted to avoid. Their name matches their experiences thus far - being observed and watched, being alien. The other characters I've played don't really have this, barring my Vaurca, so it's something I can improve upon.

How would you rate your role-playing ability?

Out of 10, 7. I can definitely improve, and all of the above is my effort to do so.

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Notes:

I'd rather you tell me if things are downright wrong and let me improve them, even if it's minor - I want to do this right.

The wiki is a little, uh, lacklustre when it comes to Dionaea.

Following this, I have a couple questions:

1. I'm rather uncertain on the backstory. Does anyone have any ideas on how to make it more genuine? Is it fine the way it is?

2. Can Dionaea actually assimilate corpses in game?

3. How does regenerating limbs work?

4. How fast do Dionaea sprint, and how long can they sprint? How does regenerating the sprint 'meter' work?

5. What is a general limit on how fast a Dionaea can talk? Most of the few I've seen talk often... like... this. I don't like that.

Any other information you can provide on the race is appreciated, too. Mechanical or lore-wise.

Edited July 31, 2017 by Guest

[Ornias]

Not the loredev or anything, but I'll try to answer your questions.

1. Your backstory seems fine (albeit short), but your 'identify what makes this race different from role-playing a human' question is about the roleplay, not the mechanical differences. Tell us what makes the race INTERESTING. Dionae are literally an amalgamation of different lifeforms, working as one being completely differently from how any other species on-station operates. They take phrases for names because they all, individually, decide they would rather be identified by a phrase than a name. They store all information without any writing, able to learn incredible things just by watching it done. They will cannibalize their dead nymphs to provide nutrients, are functionally immortal, and can 'singlehandedly' (if there is such a thing) reach planet-sizes. There is SO MUCH that can be done with it. Tell us your take on it.

2. They can assimilate diona nymphs, including other players if they are controlled by one, but they cannot absorb regular corpses.

3. It is, unfortunately, an automatic process. It shows some cool messages, and then your new arm erupts in a spray of sap. It's pretty damn cool.

4. I'm not all together sure - they're very slow, even when sprinting, so don't expect to ever outrun a human. They also can't sprint for every long, and need to be in the light to regenerate energy for it.

5. This, at least community wise, seems pretty split - I've seen a few speak quickly, but I personally think you shouldn't. Speaking slowly is part of the race, and IC challenges are just as important as mechanical challenges. At least, personally, that's what I think. That said, some people speak quicker, just try not to be over the top about it.

That said, Lore-dev knows better than I do.

[JamOfBoy]

Your feedback is appreciated. That 'identify what makes this race different from role-playing a human' part was dumb, I honestly don't know how I missed actually answering the question, thank you for pointing it out for me.

[Killerhurtz]

Hello hello!

Absolutely LOVE this application. Ornias has it mostly spot-on - though more precision on the last part: it IS up to player interpretation to set a talking speed for their character. Though talking quirks (like slow or incorrect pronunciation) are encouraged.

That being said, approved. Anyone that can make a meme something legit deserves a shot.