[Accepted] Brutishcrab51's Head of Staff Application

[Brutishcrab51]

BYOND key:BrutishCrab51.

Character names: Kalren Halstere, Mariabella Cypret.

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How long have you been playing on Aurora?: Two months, as for 2017. I played for a month and a half back in 2016, though stopped for a time.

Why do you wish to be on the whitelist?: Namely speaking, I think I've committed myself to Aurora as a server. I'm on every day, and I'm generally on during the off-hours of the day. From 11AM to about 8PM, on a good day, and even further along past about 12PM, when few Heads of Staff are available for Extended or low-population rounds. Along with this, I'd like to take on more responsibility in the server, and help afford roleplay for everyone from a position of influence during just about all rounds.

Why did you come to Aurora?: Originally, I didn't. In late 2015 and most of 2016, I was involved in ArchAngel, Paradise, and No Man's Land. Passing through them all, through (Respectively) server-death, disinterest, and server-death, I stumbled upon Aurora and started playing the server once more. From there, I got invested in the roleplay of the server with a new character - Kalren Halstere. I rejoined in early July, though I've not been involved in the Forums to any great extent aside from a few in-game posts and a Custom Item application.

Have you read the Aurora wiki on the head roles and qualifications you plan on playing?: Yep, I have. Minimum of thirty years of age, with ten years in some sort of respective Security-based field - Along with a Bachelor's level degree, or a Master's. The imagined goal is, with that said, Head of Security.

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Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions in a paragraph each.

Give a definition of what you think roleplay is, and should be about: Roleplay is.. Well, peculiar, and subjective depending on who you ask. From LightRP to HeavyRP (For SS13 at least), you have various levels of quality or detail or investment. It's the act of portraying a character aside from yourself in a setting that you yourself would generally not be involved in, and essentially, imagine another person. A character. With stories, backgrounds, relationships, fears, traits, quirks, perhaps even medical or emotional issues. Onto the second part of the question - Roleplay is about playing off a story from the point of view of a character that you control within it. It's like writing a book, with fifteen authors, and dynamic actions between every character. You establish ties, rivalries, friendships. You learn, struggle, and perhaps even die - All as the story would have you do, it's playing a role, much like acting.

What do you think the OOC purpose of a Head of Staff is, ingame?: A remarkably simpler question. Heads of Staff exist to help push forward roleplay in a constructive and intricate manner, and to facilitate it for others. While they aren't required, they act like a needed supervisor within the server from an IC standpoint. Sometimes, it comes down to whether or not a Head of Staff is available, for someone to murder another character - Or report them on a complaint. Steal an ID card, or request additional access. Change someone into a Slime, or request a monkey test subject. It really depends. Heads of Staff exist to facilitate all of that, and keep everything in control. They're players that you trust to act as administrators on the ground.

What do you think the OOC responsibilities of Whitelisted players are to other players, and how would you strive to uphold them?: Whitelisted players are specifically trusted to help enforce standards from an IC standpoint on the server. Whether for one department or another. Along with that, Whitelisted players are meant to uphold standards of roleplay, and standards of trust. They're meant to be highly informed on the subjects for which they are Heads of, and at least vaguely informed on all matters of the server at large from an OOC perspective. Players with the whitelist, have it for a reason. They need to prove they should have it.

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Please pick one of your characters for this section, and provide well articulated responses to the following questions.

Character name: Kalren Halstere.

Character age: 31.

Please provide a short biography of this character (approx 2 paragraphs):

Kalren Halstere's childhood was, persay, not necessarily a normal one. Born to lower-class family in the Martian city of Crest Olympia, he was raised in what was once the bustling suburbs of a Solarian colony, long since destroyed following the great Terraforming Collapse. Raised among two others - A Sister, Lillith Halstere -- And a brother, Damion Halstere, who would go on themselves to join the Interstellar Aid Corps. He was educated during his early days at New Gregori Primary School, education tinged by theological beliefs from among the religious population of the city, namely, his neighbors in a hundred-story super-apartment complex, and his own parents, with a hefty Christian upbringing, eventually branching off into a higher level of education - Four year's time, he received a Bachelor's degree in Practical Forensics from the University of Olympia.

This all culminated in a dutiful background, humbled by his experiences as a youth from a rather poor family, and the youngest of three. He signed on with the Solarian Civil Defense, before stepping up into the Solarian Navy - A marine trooper. For four years he served, rising from an Enlisted Trooper to a Non-Commissioned Officer within the 32nd Solarian Alliance Navy Flotilla, serving alongside Rimworld Security forces, and Inner-Core detachments. Eventually, his tour of duty ended after a resounding four years of Marine service, culminating in two years of stark unemployment until he signed on with NanoTrasen in 2451. Originating as a Security Officer with ATLAS ties given his Civil Defense history, he rose up through service to receive a grade-raise to Security Officer Level Two, and a transfer to Warden Level One, and even later, the Biesel Silver Star of Merit for bravery and professionalism in the line of duty in capturing a dangerous suspect on the NSV Aurora, culminating in raised interest in Corporate administration on his part.

What do you like about this character?: Personally, I enjoy how developed my character has become since I started playing Aurora again. He's a serious man with a half-slurred accent, and friends who one would consider he never associate with. He's likely one of my more favored characters overall, and provides a realistic approach to a great deal of situations. From playing would-be football with fellow Officers in the Brig using holo-badges, to buying coffee for Doctors at the front desk of Medical, to jetpacking across gullies on the surface in a Voidsuit with an assault rifle hunting down a hostage-taker. He's one of my more developed characters in all of SS13, and I'm pleased to see how he's progressed.

What do you dislike about this character?: Personally, I find I've been a bit inconsistent on the server with the origins in terms of backstory for Kalren Halstere. Sometimes, ranging from an ATLAS extremist to someone who is willing to buy K'ois bars for a choking Vaurca simply because he feels bad. I need to slam down some of his character points, and staple them down, in a sense.

What do you think makes this character fit to be a head of staff?: He's an experienced character with command experience, having been named Interim Head of Security more than once. Along with time spent as a Warden. He's, as a character, shown to follow Corporate Regulations effectively, and handle situations in a more-or-less non-violent or non-lethal manner, along with ensuring communication and cooperation among the team at large, and among personnel on the station.

 

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Please provide well articulated answers to the following questions.

How would you rate your own roleplaying?: I like to think I'm articulate with my roleplay. Originally, I started out on CW:HL2RP on Garry's Mod, moved on to CW:STALKER, CW:SWTCW, CW:WW3, and others. Serious roleplay required serious reactions, and I had to keep up with everyone else as, if you didn't, you generally wouldn't be taken seriously. On SS13, roleplaying every single action has taken a downturn given the real-time nature of combat and actions in the game, with game mechanics policing what can and can't be done. However, even still, I attempt to roleplay out everything I do with poses and hint, generally through description, flavor text, or the 'me' command.

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Extra notes: It may seem I'm very hell-bent and basing my entire application on the Head of Security position - Namely, because that's the only one I have experience in, as an Interim. I primary Security, and secondary Cargo, and as such, I'm inclined in the extreme to favor Security as a role. Failing that, the Security department doesn't always have a Head of Staff, and is paramount to the ongoing RP and situations occurring on the station at large.

Along with that, I've very few Forum posts. I don't generally get involved on it beyond Forum events (The would-be Biesel Storm Battalion post) or occasionally to look at other applications. It's not necessarily a nod to how long I've been playing, though, and any criticism would be pleasing to see, so I can polish up the character and possibly even the application at large.

[ZeBlooShadowVirus]

I have to say that this guy was one of the most universally disliked admins on Archangel, and liked to abuse his power a lot. I've seen him RP on the server, it's been good, but whenever he gets a position of power it tends to be abused.

Edit: He is also universally disliked in about half the Gmod communities I've seen him play. Not even to mention the fact that when he was banned for a rule infraction on another SS13 server, he flew off on a tangent and started cussing out the admins. This was a few months ago.

Overall, I do not believe this player is quite mature enough to take on a head of staff role, but I will respect any decisions made by the administration.

[Butterrobber202]

Lmao words dude.

 

Generally, I haven't seen past admins careers effect head apps, anyways. To address your concerns, if he does in fact abuse his powers, Aurora has failsafes in place for that. In the form of IR reports and the CCIA. If he is a real baddie, he'll be punished by the ironfist of our NT internal affairs.

Anyways, I personally haven't seen much of you. But the story is alright and reasoning is sound. Neutral.

[ZeBlooShadowVirus]

Lmao words dude.

 

Generally, I haven't seen past admins careers effect head apps, anyways. To address your concerns, if he does in fact abuse his powers, Aurora has failsafes in place for that. In the form of IR reports and the CCIA. If he is a real baddie, he'll be punished by the ironfist of our NT internal affairs.

Anyways, I personally haven't seen much of you. But the story is alright and reasoning is sound. Neutral.

 

I wasn't just referencing admin careers. I've seen him play heads before, too. If it gives me anymore validity, this isn't a character assassination, I consider this person my friend. I simply do not think he is an ideal choice for a head of staff.

Edit: And while I'm at it, I don't think I am either, but I'm not applying for it, so this isn't about me. (Dodging future rebuttals)

Edited September 13, 2017 by Guest

[Superiorform]

The app is good but I feel like I've seen pretty validy behaviour from Kalstere. What would you say to that?

[Felkvir]

Hm personally I am skeptical because of past behaviour of this person, and to put it in the least-spasticated terms possible I would advise to not accept it for now.

[Rkhal6363]

Good evening, or afternoon, morning (Rather whatever time-zone it is currently at the readers present location).

I've been off this site for some time, and i've only really returned to deal with this current issue as a way of clearing the air. A bit of backstory here, there is a dispute between the two players here above my response, ZeBlooShadowVirus and Brutishcrab51. Generally, I dont get involved in these type of arguments or confrontations, as these two go at it almost non-stop over other media sources such as Steam, Discord, and even Teamspeak.

But first, there are some things that must be debunked.

Yes, Brutishcrab51 was one of the most disliked admins on the Archangel Station. This was because he, as an ingame Inquisitor (See Warhammer 40k for details on them) would repeatedly put suspicious, edgy, or otherwise potentially harmful characters (or snowflakes depending on the player) in their place. Generally this is done with a Bolt-weapon or powerblade, but I digress. He was hated universally for sticking as close to the characters requirements as possible.

He even ended up causing some major events that proved to be the more memorable before Archangels abrupt, whimpering end. Playing as a Guardsman on that server, you knew that if you stayed a loyal trooper and devout soldier in the Emperors will, that you would survive the day if Inquisitor Zoe Phidelous (Brutishcrab51) led you, or at the least. You would be victorious.

Now onto Gmod, where to start here. He had his number of servers where admins saw his ability to create characters that caused massive change passively, and in some cases, actively throughout various genre's (Adamant Gaming's Star Wars, various standard HL2RP, and many others on both Clockwork and Nutscript servers that I cannot actually identify at this moment.) Did earn him the ire of more then one server.

For instance, on Adamant gaming, he created two well known clone troopers, CM-51253 'Doc' and CM-37516 'Patches'. Both these troopers played major parts in the RP, with Doc rising through the ranks to become a well known and respected medical NCO within the 48th Assault Battalion until his untimely execution by members of the battalions military police detachment following an unauthorized expedition (A combat event involving a map change). Needless to say, this resulted in a firefight between members of Doc's squad and members of the MP. Many of whom were killed during it.

Patches' story is more.. Lengthy. Its easier to simply state that he underwent many similar challenges to Doc, and caused much more to occur. However i'd rather not recount the entire tale for a number of reasons, the least of which being that it would take hours to type every major event that occurred. However, in almost every event, Patches was played exactly as one would expect him to be. Personality changing ever-so slightly as time went on to fit with the changing nature of his missions and life.

There are numerous other examples, including MPF.C17-OfC.00468, a member of the Metropolitan Police High Command on a HL2RP. Her story is, like Patches, quite varied and lengthy. The short of it is, several major events were instigated by this character, that led to an eventual city-wide mutiny and her addition to the server's lore as a small, rogue, though existent faction of the MPF, I believe it was the Unified Union or something of that nature.

This occurred over several months of development, some of which I witnessed personally.

His reactions when involved with others have been varied, he can be sarcastic and in some cases quite passive-aggressive. However such cases are generally directed towards someone who has slighted him in a personal or very distinct manner. Generally, he is quite level headed, diplomatic, and eerily manipulative. Thats not a bad thing, as he tends to incorporate these traits into some characters he plays.

Now, i'm going to go and get some Cola. I hope that this small summary of his ability is enough to lend him some credence. The choice is, after all. In the hands of the server administrators and moderators.

Edit: Yes, I am indeed Brutishcrabs brother, Hence my knowledge on this ongoing virtual feud. Honestly, I'm just annoyed that ZeBlooShadow is stooping to the level of attempted sabotage. But Like I said, it all lies in the hands of the admins. They've likely gotten first hand experience with him on the server. If anything, that will be more important then me recounting anything from his past.

Edited September 13, 2017 by Guest

[ZeBlooShadowVirus]

I am literally unsure what to say about that last response other than it is one of the most irrelevant and long-winded posts I have ever seen on this website. He was disliked there because of matters totally unrelated to in character circumstances and you obviously have no idea what you're talking about. I can't say anymore.

Edit: If anyone's wondering, the guy above me is the applicant's brother. lol

[Brutishcrab51]

The app is good but I feel like I've seen pretty validy behaviour from Kalstere. What would you say to that?

 

As for this, I can only say that most rounds end with simple report-ins from my part, and commands from an HoS or Interim. Normally, this is in the form of Cult rounds - Namely, a recent Cult round I took part in.

The Research Director and a Roboticist had captured Halstere who was tasked with a Search Warrant by the then-HoS (Valety? I think? A female character with a 'V' name), to search the department for bloodied papers. Halstere was even turned into a Cultist that round, and was responsible for freeing both the RD and Roboticist from Security during some chaos caused by cyborgs. The round ended in him being shot dead by ERT, trying to heal a dying cultist with a medical kit.

Another situation would be, Changelings. I can only remember one incident where Halstere encountered a changeling and wasn't an antag (Only ever as another changeling, never encountered one as a Traitor). This was when two characters had been turning people into each other using DNA changes. He spent the opening of that round talking to a Changeling disguised as a woman who had just been cloned, with coffee and donuts. It wasn't until she generated a sword out of her arm and tried to murder the Head of Security. He spent the great majority of that round, confused.

Another round spent as Cultist, he helped attempt the murder of a Preacher, and then had to cover his back with excuses when Security found out. He then spent the round trying to break a Cultist who was captured out of detainment.

As Mercenaries or equivalent, I have a habit of trying to peace-antag. Same with Wizard. I don't think I've ever caught a Traitor (Not directly, at least). A Vampire (Though I've encountered them before, I've done my best to abide by the red-text cues from them during actions - Never even mentioned one or interacted with one further outside of being thrall'd), though I have lit up a good Carp.

Overall, could you list some of this valid-y behavior?

As for the other poster, Rkhal. Good lord, man. I told you not to post here. Get back in your hole, go.

[Superiorform]

Alright, I'm happy with that response. I'm supporting.

[hivefleetchicken]

This is a very weird thread. Jchall, Rkhal, Alucard, I hope you don't mind if I take the gloves off here.

All three of you are immature. To begin with brutish, I don't know any truth in what Alucard (ZeBloo is an alt) said but I know from experience that you are very invested in winning. On Archangel in the past when given the option of setting the lore you made your 18 year old guardswoman a grandmaster of the inquisition with command of a legion of space marines. It was nauseatingly snowflakey and still joked about by some of my old pals from there to this day. So I cannot, in good faith, give you the go ahead to put your character in such a powerful position.

That said, Alucard, it is not appropriate for you to come onto a thread asking for roleplay criticism and instead blabber about how "all of gmod hates this guy - the truth will SHOCK YOU!". Especially when I know you to be the most hated person in BYOND. You will never be more than a griefer in many peoples' eyes, which is why you are here under an alt. Because for the past two years you have bragged and boasted that you are the best neo-nazi and flooded many forums with "umad" until you can only exist in hiding. I think if you have genuine criticisms of Hall's RP (Brutishcrab's RP), you should present them. But don't throw boulders while you live in a very constricted and nimble glass box that you yourself have trouble getting any breathing air inside.

Finally, Rkhal, please dont come onto our forums to give biased support just cause your brother asked you to from down the hall. If you want to give him balanced criticism that's fine but don't leap to his defense. I didn't call Tim and Parker up from down the street to give me +1s on my skrell whitelists back in 2015. Lol.

I recommend admins delete all of these posts if they deem them inappropriate, I won't argue against that. Superiorform and Butterrobber do have genuine posts and should be allowed to keep them here.

[ZeBlooShadowVirus]

I've said it once, and I'll say it again. The thread's not about me, and he and I are already on speaking terms and have been on Steam. I, and many people I know, would not consider him an acceptable choice for the role. That is the extent of the matter, Hive. It's an opinion. You're going to have to accept that it exists whether or not you agree with it. He can get pretty powergamey in these sorts of roles, that's all I'll say.

But, in my defense, no, this is the account I've played here on since late 2015. I only use it for ease of access, and many of the staff (of whom I am on good terms with a few) know who I am. I'm not sure what you two hoped to accomplish with the several paragraph long 'call-outs' or whatever, but my original post wasn't to call him out. I was just saying that his behavior is well-known to be somewhat questionable in these sorts of roles.

[Butterrobber202]

This seems like people coming out of the woodwork and dogpiling on this guy for mistakes he made in the past.

j/s , he should get a fair chance.

[ZeBlooShadowVirus]

This seems like people coming out of the woodwork and dogpiling on this guy for mistakes he made in the past.

j/s , he should get a fair chance.

 

Not at all. I've been talking to him on Steam this entire time. Hive is also one of his friends. We all know each other.

But look. I realize my original post came off as sort of weird, but it wasn't my intent. It's just that every time I've seen Brutish get a position of power in a server he either abuses it or becomes a total jerk as a result (although I will say he has had a shift in personality in the last year or so). That's why I can't exactly support his decision to try to become HoS here, even though he is my friend, and we talk often. I have a nagging suspicion that regardless of all of this unnecessary drama, the administration will still decide to accept him on the simple premise that his application is excellently written and produced.

[Brutishcrab51]

ZeBlooShadowVirus is, as I would call, a friend, yeah. So is HiveFleet.

That all aside, I feel the thread here has been derailed in the extreme. Most of what's been referenced was from a time where, yeah, I'll admit, I was far from an ideal choice for anything administrative. I wasn't grand for staff on ArchAngel, and I was hardly decent for anything else on the server.

That was also a few years ago.

At this point, I like to think I've moved past that. Around this point in time, I've been favorably seeking out interaction on Aurora with my character Kalren Halstere. I thought it best, given encouragement from a few players on the server, even some with Head of Staff whitelists themselves, to give it a go. I still do want to seek that out, though I'm not going to deny anything that's been thrown my way here by BlooShadow or Hive. Yep. I never was great with command positions before Aurora, though I like to think my time as Interim HoS during more than a few rounds, and my time as Warden on the server, have gone to show that I can hold my own fairly and without a valid-ish nature. Anyways.

The feedback is, of course, appreciated. I've taken what everyone's said into thought.

[hivefleetchicken]

I am not saying you are incapable of being in a powerful position without being snowflakey. Ive just seen it happen. Your trackpad ass could never compete against me or Alucard back in the day but this server gives SERIOUS equipment to HOS' for serious threats. Lately we have seen a lot of bad behavior from HOS', and while I can't cite anything concrete, I fear the shitty mentality of "i saw a construct, time to unleash combat borgs" might have rubbed off on a lad who likes looking cool and righteous as much as you do. Its very hard to resist and im not sure if youd be able to.

But hey prove me wrong and ill support the shit out of you! Youre great at adopting new lore and roleplay, just not so good at remaining a small insignificant body shield in an army of corporate mallcops that are terribly unprepared for the real threats humanity faces.

[ZeBlooShadowVirus]

Have to agree with Hive. I've been playing Aurora more recently and I have to admit you have been doing better as a standard officer than I expected.

Edit: And I have to clarify why I brought up the Gmod shit. Dude, you put it in your app like some kind of resume, when everyone I've spoken to from Gmod that knows you is either indifferent or somewhat negative. That is why I brought up the Gmod stuff, Hive, not just to say "EXPOSED!!!"

[hivefleetchicken]

Have to agree with Hive. I've been playing Aurora more recently and I have to admit you have been doing better as a standard officer than I expected.

Edit: And I have to clarify why I brought up the Gmod shit. Dude, you put it in your app like some kind of resume, when everyone I've spoken to from Gmod that knows you is either indifferent or somewhat negative. That is why I brought up the Gmod stuff, Hive, not just to say "EXPOSED!!!"

 

yeah well.... look who got exposed now...... buster..........

 

for real tho. ill be keepin an eye out to see if i can back up you not being a powergamer and give you support accordingly.

[Faris]

These applications are based on their merits on this server, while outside this server applications may be relevant, we don't generally base our decisions on it. Abusing their position will incur OOC repercussions.

[Saudus]

Similar to superiorform I had gotten a feeling of validy behavior from Kalstere (no specific incident I can point to).

But the application is good, despite the derailment brutishcrab is calm and reasonable in his responses and the past actions brought up are just that, past actions. I don't know the character well enough to give them a +1, but I hope he gets the chance to prove himself ICly.

[cheap31]

I was just in round with Kalren who had been promoted to interim HoS and I was very pleased with the roleplay. It didn't seem at all powergamey and they communicated very well with the crew as well as the other heads.

Crab is a competent HoS that can get in a bit of good RP while doing their job. +1

[CommanderXor]

+! Support.

Kalren is a wonderful character to be with, respects command when not a interim and administers orders and staffs people well when he is playing as a interim. Along with the personal roleplay that has been developed on a personal level with other characters, I think he would be a well fit for a Head of Security role on the Aurora.

[sonicgotnuked]

I seen them do well, they have my +1

Side note... GMOD... why does everyone (including me) end up coming from gmod...

[Alicia Jewel]

I was in a round with Halstere last night where he was promoted to Interim Head of Security. He was proactive in making sure everything in the department ran smoothly and reporting any issues as necessary. I also had a lovely one-on-one RP chat that melted my character's ice-cold heart, even if just a little. I'll toss in my support.

[JKJudgeX]

FWIW, I've seen Halstere take the role of warden quite seriously and run an admirable brig, doing a decent job of reporting the information up the chain of command when asked and keeping the captain informed when there's no HoS. He seems responsive to concerns and I've never had a serious problem with him.

I won't up it just yet as I feel I'd like to keep an eye on him for a bit if I get a chance to play Captain a few more times with him on shift this week, now that I know he's applying, but if anyone was on the fence I just wanted to pop in and note that the guy is good material as far as security play is concerned from the command perspective.

I kinda think people should play for 3 or 4 months, and maybe flesh out a couple of characters in other departments and come back before going for a whitelist position, personally, but, I don't consider that a hard requirement.